Plutarch's essays and miscellanies, Vol. 3 (of 5) : $b Comprising all his works collected under the title of "Morals"Plutarch
Philosophy
Plutarch's essays and miscellanies, Vol. 3 (of 5) : $b Comprising all his works collected under the title of "Morals"
Plutarch
Classical literature; Essays; Ethics; Philosophy
So much was allowable, being no more than a careful cleanliness.
But when she comes to call for her golden buttons, her curiously
wrought ear-rings, and last of all puts on her bewitching girdle,
this appears to be an extravagant and idle curiosity, and betrays too
much of wantonness, which by no means becomes a married woman. Just
so they that sophisticate wine by mixing it with aloes, cinnamon, or
saffron bring it to the table like a gorgeous-apparelled woman, and
there prostitute it. But those that only take from it what is nasty
and no way profitable do only purge it and improve it by their labor.
Otherwise you may find fault with all things whatsoever as vain and
extravagant, beginning at the house you live in. As first, you may
say, why is it plastered? Why does it open especially on that side
where it may have the best convenience for receiving the purest air,
and the benefit of the evening sun? What is the reason that our cups
are washed and made so clean that they shine and look bright? Now if
a cup ought to have nothing that is nasty or loathsome in it, ought
that which is drunk out of the cup to be full of dregs and filth? What
need is there for mentioning any thing else? The making corn into bread
is a continual cleansing; and yet what a great ado there is before
it is effected! There is not only threshing, winnowing, sifting, and
separating the bran, but there must be kneading the dough to soften all
parts alike, and a continual cleansing and working of the mass till all
the parts become edible alike. What absurdity is it then by straining
to separate the lees, as it were the filth of the wine, especially
since the cleansing is no chargeable or painful operation?
_QUESTION VIII._
WHAT IS THE CAUSE OF BULIMY, OR THE GREEDY DISEASE?
PLUTARCH, SOCLARUS, CLEOMENES, AND OTHERS.
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