Page:Plutarch - Moralia, translator Holland, 1911.djvu/34

12 less than vice: marry, intemperance they will have to be a full and complete vice indeed: For that in it as the affection is ill, so the reason also is corrupt and depraved: and as by the one it is incited and led to the appetite of filthiness and dishonesty, so by the other through perverse judgment it is induced to give consent unto dishonest lusts, and withal groweth to be senseless and hath no feeling at all of sins and faults which it committeth: whereas incontinency retaineth still a right and sound judgment by means of reason: Howbeit, through the vehement and violent passion which is stronger than reason, it is carried away against the own judgment. Moreover, in these respects, it differeth from intemperance: For that the reason of the incontinent person is overmatched with passion; but of the other, it doth not so much as enter combat therewith. He, albeit he contradict, gainsay, and strive a while, yet in the end yieldeth unto lusts and followeth them; but the intemperate man is led thereby, and at the first giveth consent and approveth thereof.

Again, the intemperate person is well content, and taketh joy in having sinned: whereas the other is presently grieved thereat. Again, he runneth willingly and of his own accord to commit sin and villainy; but the incontinent man, maugre and full against his mind, doth abandon honesty. And as there is this distinct difference plainly seen in their deeds and actions, so there is no less to be observed in their words and speeches. For the sayings ordinarily of the intemperate person be these and such-like:

What mirth in life, what pleasure, what delight, Without content in sports of Venus bright? Were those joys past, and I for them unmeet, Ring out my knell, bring forth my winding sheet.

Another saith:

To eat, to drink, to wench, are principal. All pleasures else, I accessories call.

As if with all his heart and soul he were wholly given to a voluptuous life, yea, and overwhelmed therewith. And no less than those, he also who hath these words in his mouth:

Now suffer me to perish by and by. It pleaseth, nay, it booteth me to die,

speaketh as one whose appetite and judgment both were out of order and diseased. But the speeches of incontinent persons be in another key and far different: for one saith:

My mind is good and thither doth sway. My nature bad, and puts it away.