Medicina Flagellata Part 4

XXI.

The Difficulty lies in finding out an exact Measure; but eat for Necessity not Pleasure; for l.u.s.t knows not where Necessity ends.

XXII.

Wouldst thou enjoy a long Life, a healthy Body, and a vigorous Mind, and be acquainted also with the wonderful Works of G.o.d, labour in the first Place to bring thy Appet.i.te to Reason.

XXIII.

Beware of Variety of Meats, and such as are curiously and daintily drest, which destroy a mult.i.tude of People; they prolong Appet.i.te four times beyond what Nature requires, and different Meats are of different Natures, some are sooner digested than others, whence Crudities proceed, and the whole Digestion depraved.

XXIV.

Keep out of the Sight of Feasts and Banquets as much as may be, for it is more difficult to retain good Cheer, when in Presence, than from the Desire of it when it is away; the like you may observe in all the other Senses.

XXV.

Fancy that Gluttony is not good and pleasant, but filthy, evil, and detestable; as it really is.

XXVI.

The richest Food, when concocted, yields the most noisom Smells; and he that works and fares hard, hath a sweeter and pleasanter Body than the other.

XXVII.

Winter requires somewhat a larger Quant.i.ty than Summer; hot and dry Meats agree best with Winter, cold and moist with Summer; in Summer abate a little of your Meat and add to your Drink, and in Winter substract from your Drink and add to your Meat.

XXVIII.

If a Man casually exceeds, let him fast the next Meal and all may be well again, provided it be not often done; or if he exceed at Dinner, let him rest from, or make a slight Supper.

XXIX.

Use now and then a little Exercise a Quarter of an Hour before Meals, or swing your Arms about with a small Weight in each Hand, to leap, and the like, for that stirs the Muscles of the Breast.

x.x.x.

Shooting in the long Bow, for the Breast and Arms.

x.x.xI.

Bowling, for the Reins, Stone and Gravel, _&c._

x.x.xII.

Walking, for the Stomach: And the great _Drusus_ having weak and small Thighs and Legs, strengthened them by Riding, and especially after Dinner.

x.x.xIII.

Squinting and a dull Sight are amended by Shooting.

x.x.xIV.

Crookedness, by Swinging and hanging upon the Arms.

x.x.xV.

A temperate Diet frees from Diseases; such are seldom ill, but if they are surprized with Sickness, they bear it better, and recover it sooner, for all Distempers have their Original from Repletion.

x.x.xVI.

A temperate Diet arms the Body against all external Accidents, so that they are not so easily hurt by Heat, Cold, or Labour; if they at any Time should be prejudiced, they are more easily cured, either of Wounds, Dislocations, or Bruises; it also resists Epidemical Diseases.

x.x.xVII.

It makes Mens Bodies fitter for any Employments; it makes Men to live long; _Galen_, with many others, lived by it a Hundred Years.

x.x.xVIII.

_Galen_ saith, That those that are weak-complexioned from their Mothers Womb, may (by the Help of this Art, which prescribes the coa.r.s.e Diet) attain to extreme old Age, and that without Diminution of Senses or Sickness of Body; and he saith, that though he never had a healthful Const.i.tution of Body from his Birth, yet by using a good Diet after the Twenty-seventh Year of his Age, he never fell into Sickness, unless now and then into a One Days Fever, taken by One Days Weariness.

x.x.xIX.

A sober Diet makes a Man die without Pain; it maintains the Senses in Vigour; it mitigates the Violence of Pa.s.sions and Affections.

XL.

It preserves the Memory; it helps the Understanding; it allays the Heat of l.u.s.t; it brings a Man to that weighty Consideration of his latter End.