s heat, and those
cool blasts, because we buy them not." This air we breathe is so common, we
care not for it; nothing pleaseth but what is dear. And if we be
[1410]witty in anything, it is _ad gulam_: If we study at all, it is
_erudito luxu_, to please the palate, and to satisfy the gut. "A cook of
old was a base knave" (as [1411]Livy complains), "but now a great man in
request; cookery is become an art, a noble science: cooks are gentlemen:"
_Venter Deus_: They wear "their brains in their bellies, and their guts in
their heads," as [1412]Agrippa taxed some parasites of his time, rushing on
their own destruction, as if a man should run upon the point of a sword,
_usque dum rumpantur comedunt_, "They eat till they burst:" [1413]All day,
all night, let the physician say what he will, imminent danger, and feral
diseases are now ready to seize upon them, that will eat till they vomit,
_Edunt ut vomant, vomut ut edant_, saith Seneca; which Dion relates of
Vitellius, _Solo transitu ciborum nutriri judicatus_: His meat did pass
through and away, or till they burst again. [1414]_Strage animantium
ventrem onerant_, and rake over all the world, as so many [1415]slaves,
belly-gods, and land-serpents, _Et totus orbis ventri nimis angustus_, the
whole world cannot satisfy their appetite. [1416]"Sea, land, rivers, lakes,
&c., may not give content to their raging guts." To make up the mess, what
immoderate drinking in every place? _Senem potum pota trahebat anus_, how
they flock to the tavern: as if they were _fruges consumere nati_, born to
no other end but to eat and drink, like Offellius Bibulus, that famous
Roman parasite, _Qui dum vixit, aut bibit aut minxit_; as so many casks to
hold wine, yea worse than a cask, that mars wine, and itself is not marred
by it, yet these are brave men, Silenus Ebrius was no braver. _Et quae
fuerunt vitia, mores sunt_: 'tis now the fashion of our times, an honour:
_Nunc vero res ista eo rediit_ (as Chrysost. _serm. 30. in v. Ephes._
comments) _Ut effeminatae ridendaeque ignaviae loco habeatur, nolle
inebriari_; 'tis now come to that pass that he is no gentleman, a very
milk-sop, a clown, of no bringing up, that will not drink; fit for no
company; he is your only gallant that plays it off finest, no disparagement
now to stagger in the streets, reel, rave, &c., but much to his fame and
renown; as in like case Epidicus told Thesprio his fellow-servant, in the
[1417]Poet. _Aedipol facinus improbum_, one