Page:The whole familiar colloquies of Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam.djvu/352

348 FAMILIAR COLLOQUIES. How much greater then the fault to spend so much of the day in sleep. Ph. True ; but this has respect to a man of counsel. I am no general of an army.

Ne. If there is anything more dear to you than yourself, do not be moved or affected by this opinion of Homer. A brasier will rise before it is light, only in hopes of some poor advantage. And has not the love of wisdom power to rouse and stir us up, that we may at least hear the approaching sun calling us forth to profit inestimable ? Physicians rarely give physic but in the morning. They know the golden hours in which they may assist the body; and shall we be ignorant of those precious hours in which we may heal and enrich the mind 1 Now, if these things are of small weight with you, hear what Solomon says ^(Prov. viii. 17). Wisdom, heavenly wisdom herself speaks : "They who seek me early shall find me." So in the holy Psalms, Iviii. and Ixxxvii., what praise and commendation is there of the morning seasons ! In the morning the prophet extols the mercy of the Lord ; in the morning his voice is heard; his prayers come before God in the morning. And, according to Luke the evangelist, chap, vi., the people, seeking from the Lord cure and instruction, flocked together to Him early in the morning. Why dost thou sigh, Philypnus ? Ph. I can scarce refrain weeping when I consider what a waste I have made of life.

Ne. It is all in vain to torment yourself about those things which cannot be recalled, but may nevertheless be repaired in time to come. Apply yourself to this rather than in vainly deploring what is past ; lose also some part of the future. Ph. You advise well, but long habit has entirely overcome me. Ne. Phy ! One nail drives out another, and custom is overcome by custom. Ph. But it is difficult to forego those things to which we have been long accustomed. Ne. In the beginning, I grant ; but a different habit first lessens the uneasiness, anon changes it into the highest pleasure, so that it will not repent you to have undergone a short discipline. Ph. I am afraid it will never succeed. Ne. Why, truly, if you were seventy years of age, I would not attempt to draw you from your wonted course ; but if I guess right, you are scarce seventeen ; and what is there that that age is not able to overcome, if there be but a willing mind ? Ph. I will attempt it, and endeavour of a Philypnus to be made a Philologus, of a lover of sleep a lover of learning. Ne. If you do this, my Philypnus, I am very well satisfied after a few days you will congratulate yourself, and give me thanks who advised you.  

Al. Did you ever in your life see anything more pleasant than this garden 1 Ba. I scarce think that there is a pleasanter spot of ground in all the Fortunate Islands. Ch. I cannot but fancy myself viewing that paradise that God placed Adam in. De. Even a Nestor or a Priam us might grow young again if they were here. Fr. Nay, 