Half subtiliz’d to chyle, the liquid food Readiest obeys th’ assimilating powers; And soon the tender vegetable mass Relents; and soon the young of those that tread 60 The stedfast earth, or cleave the green abyss, Or pathless sky. And if the Steer must fall, In youth and vigor glorious let him die; Nor stay till rigid age, or heavy ails, Absolve him ill-requited from the yoke. 65 Some with high forage, and luxuriant ease, Indulge the veteran Ox; but wiser thou, From the bleak mountain or the barren downs, Expect the flocks by frugal nature fed; A race of purer blood, with exercise 70 Refin’d and scanty fare: For, old or young, The stall’d are never healthy; nor the cramm’d. Not all the culinary arts can tame, To wholsome food, th’ abominable growth Of rest and gluttony; the prudent taste 75 Rejects like bane such loathsome lusciousness. The languid stomach curses even the pure Delicious fat, and all the race of oil; For more the oily aliments relax Its feeble tone; and with the eager lymph 80 (Fond to incorporate with all it meets) Coily they mix; and shun with slippery wiles The wooed embrace. Th’ irresoluble oil, So gentle late and blandishing, in floods Of rancid bile o’erflows: What tumults hence, 85 What horrors rise, were nauseous to relate. Chuse leaner viands, ye of jovial make! Chuse sober meals; and rouse to active life Your cumbrous clay; nor on th’ enfeebling down, Irresolute, protract the morning hours. 90 But let the man, whose bones are thinly clad, With chearful ease, and succulent repast Improve his slender habit. Each extreme From the blest mean of sanity departs.