advertisements and menu folders and other such provocatives to
gluttony."

"--Yet I would have you consider how little is to be gained by
attempting to conceal even from the young the inevitability of this
natural function, so long as dogs eat publicly in the streets, and the
poultry regale themselves just as candidly, and the house-flies also.
Instead, the knowledge that this function is not to be talked about
induces furtive and misleading discussion among these children, and,
though lack of proper instruction in the approved etiquette of eating,
they often commit deplorable errors--"

To which the man of law replied, still with a bewildering effect of
talking very wisely and patiently: "Ah, but it does not matter at all
whether or not the function of eating is practised and is inevitable
to the nature and laws of our being. The law merely considers that any
mention of eating is apt to inflame an improper and lewd appetite,
particularly in the young, who are always ready to eat: and therefore
any such mention is an obscene libel."




4--How There Was Babbling in Philistia

Now Horvendile, yet in bewilderment, lamented, and he fled from the
man of law. Thereafter, in order to learn what manner of writing was
most honored by the Philistines, this Horvendile goes into an academy
where the faded old books of Philistia were stored, along with
yesterday's other leavings.