The Essays of Montaigne — Volume 19 by Michel de Montaigne
page 73 of 79 (92%)
page 73 of 79 (92%)
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["Such forms as those which after death are reputed to hover about, or dreams which delude the senses in sleep."--AEneid, x. 641.] which hasten and prolong their flight, according as they are pursued. The fruit and end of their pursuit is to pursue; as Alexander said, that the end of his labour was to labour: "Nil actum credens, cum quid superesset agendum." ["Thinking nothing done, if anything remained to be done. --"Lucan, ii. 657.] For my part then, I love life and cultivate it, such as it has pleased God to bestow it upon us. I do not desire it should be without the necessity of eating and drinking; and I should think it a not less excusable failing to wish it had been twice as long; "Sapiens divitiarum naturalium quaesitor acerrimus:" ["A wise man is the keenest seeker for natural riches." --Seneca, Ep., 119.] nor that we should support ourselves by putting only a little of that drug into our mouths, by which Epimenides took away his appetite and kept himself alive; nor that we should stupidly beget children with our fingers or heels, but rather; with reverence be it spoken, that we might voluptuously beget them with our fingers and heels; nor that the body should be without desire and without titillation. These are ungrateful and wicked complaints. I accept kindly, and with gratitude, what nature |
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