e, Ep., i. 4, 4.]

Wiser men, having great force and vigour of soul, may propose to
themselves a rest wholly spiritual but for me, who have a very ordinary
soul, it is very necessary to support myself with bodily conveniences;
and age having of late deprived me of those pleasures that were more
acceptable to me, I instruct and whet my appetite to those that remain,
more suitable to this other reason. We ought to hold with all our force,
both of hands and teeth, the use of the pleasures of life that our years,
one after another, snatch away from us:

"Carpamus dulcia; nostrum est,
Quod vivis; cinis, et manes, et fabula fies."

["Let us pluck life's sweets, 'tis for them we live: by and by we
shall be ashes, a ghost, a mere subject of talk."
--Persius, Sat., v. 151.]

Now, as to the end that Pliny and Cicero propose to us of glory, 'tis
infinitely wide of my account. Ambition is of all others the most
contrary humour to solitude; glory and repose are things that cannot
possibly inhabit in one and the same place. For so much as I understand,
these have only their arms and legs disengaged from the crowd; their soul
and intention remain confined behind more than ever:

"Tun', vetule, auriculis alienis colligis escas?"

["Dost thou, then, old man, collect food for others' ears?"
--Persius, Sat., i. 22.]

they have only retired to take a better leap, and by a stronger motion to
give a brisker charge into the crowd. Will you see how they shoot short?
Let us put into the counterpoise the advice of two philosophers, of two
very different sects, writing, the one to Idomeneus, the other to
Lucilius, their friends, to retire into solitude from worldly honours and
affairs. "You have," say they, "hitherto lived swimming and floating;
come now and die in the harbour: you have given the first part of your
life to the light, give what remains to the shade. It is impossible to
give over business, if you do not also quit the fruit; therefore
disengage yourselves from all concern of name and glory; 'tis to be
feared the lustre of your former actions will give you but too much
light, and follow you into your most private retreat. Quit with other
pleasures that which proceeds from the approbation of another man: and as
to your knowledge and parts, never concern yourselves; they will not lose
their effect if yourselves be the better for them. Remember him