, as
the above-mentioned Cicero affirms, and all those who now live
in this manner. Plato, you will say, though he himself lived very
regularly, affirms, notwithstanding, that, in republics, men
cannot do so, being often obligated to expose themselves to heat,
cold, and several other kinds of hardship, and other things,
which are all so many disorders, and incompatable with a regular
life. I answer, as I have already observed, that these are not
disorders attended with any bad consequence, or which affect
either health or life, when the man, who undergoes them, observes
the rules of sobriety, and commits no excess in the two points
concerning diet, which a republican may very well avoid, nay it
is requisite he should avoid; because, by so doing, he may be
sure either to escape those disorders, which, otherwise, it
would be no easy matter for him to escape while exposed to these
hardships; or, in case he could not escape them, he may more
easily and speedily prevent their bad effects.

Here it may be objected, and some actually object, that he,
who leads a regular life, having constantly, when well, made
use of food fit for the sick, and in small quantities, has no
resource left in case of illness. To this I might, in the
first place, answer, that nature, desirous to preserve man
in good health as long as possible, informs him, herself, how
he is to act in time of illness; for she immediately deprives
him, when sick, of his appetite, in order that he may eat but
little; because nature (as I have said already) is satisfied
with little; wherefore, it is requisite, that a man, when
sick, whether he has been a regular or irregular liver, should
use no meats, but such as are suited to his disorder; and of
these even in a much smaller quantity than he was wont to do,
when in health. For were he to eat as much as he used to do, he
would die by it; because it would be only adding to the burden,
with which nature was already oppressed, by giving her a greater
quantity of food, than she can in such circumstances support; and
this, I imagine, would be a sufficient caution to any sick
person. But, independent of all this, I might answer some others,
and still better, that whoever leads a regular life, cannot be
sick; or, at least, but seldom, and for a short time; because,
by living regularly, he extirpates every seed of sickness; and
thus, by removing the cause, prevents the effect; so that he,
who pursues a regular cours