more, and
be not so good, as one that is made by taking out of several different
sauces at once? For there being more ingredients than usual, no doubt it
costs more; but then because we mix things together, which the cooks
never used to mingle, because they agree not well with one another, we
certainly spoil the whole; and is it not a jest to be curious in having
good cooks, and at the same time to be so fantastical as to alter the
relish of the dishes they have dressed? Besides, when we have once got a
habit of eating thus of several dishes at once, we are not so well
satisfied when we have no longer that variety. Whereas a man who
contents himself to eat but of one dish at a time finds no great
inconvenience in having but one dish of meat for his dinner."

He made likewise this remark: that to express what the other Greeks
called "to eat a meal," the Athenians said "to make good cheer;" and that
the word "good" shows us that we ought to eat such things only as will
neither disorder the body nor the mind, which are easily had, and
purchased without great expense. From whence he inferred that they alone
who live temperately and soberly can truly be said to make good
cheer--that is to say, to eat well.

BOOK IV.

CHAPTER I. THAT PERSONS OF GOOD NATURAL PARTS, AS WELL AS THOSE WHO HAVE
PLENTIFUL FORTUNES, OUGHT NOT TO THINK THEMSELVES ABOVE INSTRUCTION. ON
THE CONTRARY, THE ONE OUGHT, BY THE AID OF LEARNING, TO IMPROVE THEIR
GENIUS; THE OTHER, BY THE ACQUISITION OF KNOWLEDGE, TO RENDER THEMSELVES
VALUABLE.

There was always, as we have already remarked, some improvement to be
made with Socrates; and it must be owned that his company and
conversation were very edifying, since even now, when he is no more among
us, it is still of advantage to his friends to call him to their
remembrance. And, indeed, whether he spoke to divert himself, or whether
he spoke seriously, he always let slip some remarkable instructions for
the benefit of all that heard him.

He used often to say he was in love, but it was easy to see it was not
with the beauty of one's person that he was taken, but with the virtues
of his mind.

The marks of a good genius, he said, were these--a good judgment, a
retentive memory, and an ardent desire of useful knowledge; that is to
say, when a person readily learns what he is taught, and strongly retains
what he has learnt, as also when he is curious to know all that is
necessary to the g