A Very Pleasaunt & Fruitful Diologe Called the Epicure by Desiderius Erasmus
page 37 of 42 (88%)
page 37 of 42 (88%)
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woulde then haue conueied my selfe from suche a table.
_HEDO_ But his vowe had bound hym too the contrarye, for Iupyter is not so easye too intreate as oure _GOD_, which dooeth vnloose the pernitious vowes of menne, that bee made contrary vnto his holy woord, if thei bee ||F.iii.|| penitent and sorye therfore, or elles it myght bee thus, the same stoone that woulde not suffer hym too eate, would neither suffer hym to ryse, for if he had but ones moued he shuld haue been quashed al in peeses with the fall thereof. _SPVDE._ You haue shewed a very mery fable _HEDON._ But nowe heare that thing, which you wil not laugh at: the commune people seeke too haue a pleasaunt life in outwarde thynges, where as noothyng can yeoue that, but onely a constant and a quiet mind: for surely a far heuier stone hangeth ouer these that grudge with them selues, then hanged ouer _Tantalus_: it only hangeth not ouer them, but greueth and || oppresseth the mynde, ne the mind is not troubled wyth any vayn hoope, but looketh euery houre to bee caste in too the paynes of hell, I praye you what can bee so pleasaunt emongist all thinges that bee yeouen vnto man, that coulde reioyse the mynde, whyche were oppressed wyth suche a stoone? _SPVDE._ Truely there is nothyng but madnes, or elles incredulitie. _HEDO._ Yf younge menne woulde weygh these thynges, that bee quyckly prouoked and entised with pleasure as it were wyth the cuppe of _Circes_, whiche in steade of theyr greatest pleasures receiue poysone myxte with honye. Howe circumspecte would they bee too doo anye thynge ||F.iiii|| vnaduisedly that shoulde grudge their mindes afterward? What thinge is it that thei would not doo too haue suche a godly treasure in store against their latter |
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