ed upon sobriety as an economy of the appetite, and that the
repasts in which one indulged should never injure him who partook. His
motto was: "Sic praesentibus voluptatibus utaris ut futuris non
noceas."

He disentangled pleasures from the anxieties which precede, and the
disgust which follows them. When he became infirm and suffered pain,
he placed the sovereign good in ease and rest, and wisely, to my
notion, from the condition he was in, for the cessation of pain is the
felicity of those who suffer it.

As to tranquillity of mind, which constitutes another part of
happiness, it is nothing but a simple exemption from anxiety or worry.
But, whoso can not enjoy agreeable movements is happy in being
guaranteed from the sensations of pain.

After saying this much, I am of the opinion that ease and tranquillity
constituted the sovereign good for Epicurus when he was infirm and
feeble. For a man who is in a condition to enjoy pleasures, I believe
that health makes itself felt by something more active than ease, or
indolence, as a good disposition of the soul demands something more
animated than will permit a state of tranquillity. We are all living
in the midst of an infinity of good and evil things, with senses
capable of being agreeably affected by the former and injured by the
latter. Without so much philosophy, a little reason will enable us to
enjoy the good as deliciously as possible and accommodate ourselves to
the evil as patiently as we can.

End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Life, Letters, and Epicurean
Philosophy of Ninon de L'Enclos, the Celebrated Beauty of the
Seventeenth Century, by Robinson [and] Overton, ed. and translation.

*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NINON DE L'ENCLOS ***

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