vers to pursue pleasure, and avoid pain; and is
confirmed by the universal experience of mankind, who are incited
to action by no other principle than the desire of avoiding pain, or
obtaining pleasure. There are two kinds of pleasure: one consisting in
a state of rest, in which both body and mind are undisturbed by any kind
of pain; the other arising from an agreeable agitation of the senses,
producing a correspondent emotion in the soul. It is upon the former
of these that the enjoyment of life chiefly depends. Happiness may
therefore be said to consist in bodily ease, and mental tranquillity,
When pleasure is asserted to be the end of living, we are not then to
understand that violent kind of delight or joy which arises from the
gratification of the senses and passions, but merely that placid state
of mind, which results from the absence of every cause of pain or
uneasiness. Those pleasures, which arise from agitation, are not to be
pursued as in themselves the end of living, but as means of arriving at
that stable tranquillity, in which true happiness consists. It is the
office of reason to confine the pursuit of pleasure within the limits
of nature, in order to the attainment of that happy state, in which
the body is free from every kind of pain, and the mind from all
perturbation. This state must not, however, be conceived to be perfect
in proportion as it is inactive and torpid, but in proportion as all
the functions of life are quietly and pleasantly performed. A happy life
neither resembles a rapid torrent, nor a standing pool, but is like a
gentle stream, that glides smoothly and silently along.

"This happy state can only be obtained by a prudent care of the body,
and a steady government of the mind. The diseases of the body are to be
prevented by temperance, or cured by medicine, or rendered tolerable
by patience. Against the diseases of the mind, philosophy provides
sufficient antidotes. The instruments which it employs for this purpose
are the virtues; the root of which, whence all the rest proceed, is
prudence. This virtue comprehends the whole art of living discreetly,
justly, and honorably, and is, in fact, the same thing with wisdom. It
instructs men to free their understandings from the clouds of prejudice;
to exercise temperance and fortitude in the government of themselves:
and to practice justice towards others. Although pleasure, or happiness,
which is the end of living, be superior to virtue, whic