Page:The whole familiar colloquies of Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam.djvu/351

CONCERNING EARLY RISING. 347 Ne. Not smartly, but truly. Come on, you have often heard that of Hesiod, It is too late to spare when all is spent. Ph. Very frequently; for in the middle of the pipe the wine is best. Ph. But in life the first part that is to say, youth, is best. Ph. Verily, so it is. Ne. And the morning is the same to the day as youth is to life. Do not they then act foolishly who spend their youth in trifles and their morning hours in sleep 1 Ph. So it appears. Ne. Is there any possession which may be compared with a man's life 1 Ph. No, not the whole Persian treasure. Ne. Wouldst thou not vehemently hate the man that by evil arts could and would curtail thy years, and shorten thy thread of life 1 Ph. I would rather do my endeavour to destroy his life. Ne. But I deem those far worse, and more guilty, who voluntarily render their own lives shorter. Ph. I confess it, if any such are to be found. Ne. To be found ! It is what all who are like thee do. Ph. Good words, man. Ne. The best. Thus consider with your own self whether Pliny has spoken justly or not, when he says, All life is one continued watching, and he lives most who employs the greatest part of his time in study. For sleep is a kind of death ; therefore the poets feign it to come from the infernal shades ; and it is called by Homer the cousin-german of death ; and so those who sleep can scarce be numbered either amongst the dead or living, but of the two they seem most properly named amongst the dead. Ph. I am entirely of your opinion.

Ne. Now, tell me fairly how much of life do they cut off who every day destroy three or four hours in sleep 1 Ph. Truly, a vast deal. Ne. Would not you esteem him as a god, if there were an alchemist who could find a way to add ten years to the length of your life, and when you are advanced in years reduce you to youth and vigour? Ph. Ay, why should I not ? Ne. And this so divine blessing thou mayest obtain from thy own self. Ph. Which way ? Ne. Because the morning is the vigorous youth of the day ; this youth flourishes till noon, the evening succeeds by the name of old age, and call sunset the article of death. Frugality is a handsome income, and never more necessary than in this case. Now, has not he been a great gainer who has avoided losing the greatest and best part of life 1 Ph. All these things are too true.

Ne. How intolerably impudent, then, must they seem who accuse nature, and complain that the life of man is short and little, when they themselves voluntarily cut off so great a part of that little which nature gave 1 Life is long enough, if men would but use it prudently. Nor has he made a small progress who knows how to do everything in season. After dinner we are scarce half men, when the body, loaded with meats, burdens and oppresses the mind ; nor is it safe to excite or draw up the spirits from nature's kitchen the stomach, where they are employed in the business of concoction ; after supper, much less. But in the morning a man is effectually and all a man, when his body is apt and fit for every employment, when the soul is active and in full force, and all the organs of the mind serene and in tranquillity, whilst it breathes a part of that divine flatus (as one says), has a relish of its great original, and is rapt or hurried on to commendable actions. Ph. Truly, you harangue very elegantly. Ne. Agamemnon, in Homer, tells us, It is unbecoming a man of counsel to sleep the whole night.