rtain time the moon begged of her mother a coat that would fit
her. How can that be done, quoth the mother, for sometime you are full,
sometimes the one half of you seems lost and perished, sometimes only
a pair of horns appear. So, my Chersias, to the desires of a foolish
immoderate man no certain measure can be fitted; for according to the
ebbing and flowing of his lust and appetite, and the frequent or seldom
casualties that befall him, accordingly his necessities ebb and flow,
not unlike Aesop's dog, who, being pinched and ready to starve with the
cold winter, was a mind to build himself a house; but when summer came
on, he lay all along upon the ground, and stretching himself in the sun
thought himself monstrous big, and thought it unnecessary and besides no
small labor to build him a house portionable to that bulk and bigness.
And do you not observe, O Chersias, continues he, many poor men,--how
one while they pinch their bellies, upon what short commons they live,
how sparing and niggardly and miserable they are; and another while you
may observe the same men as distrustful and covetous withal, as if the
plenty of the city and county, the riches of king and kingdom were not
sufficient to preserve them from want and beggary.

When Chersias had concluded this discourse, Cleodemus began thus: We see
you that are wise men possessing these outward goods after an unequal
manner. Good sweet sir, answered Cleobulus, the law weaver-like hath
distributed to every man a fitting, decent, adequate portion, and in
your profession your reason does what the law does here,--when you feed,
or diet, or physic your patient, you give not the quantity he desires,
but what you judge to be convenient for each in his circumstances.
Ardalus inquires: Epimenides, to abstain from all other victuals, and to
content himself with a little composition of his own, which the Greeks
call [Greek omitted] (HUNGER-RELIEVING)? This he takes into his mouth
and chews, and eats neither dinner nor supper. This instance obliged the
whole company to be a little while silent, until Thales in a jesting
way replied, that Epimenides did very wisely, for hereby he saved the
trouble and charge of grinding and boiling his meat, as Pittacus did. I
myself sojourning as Lesbos overheard my landlady, as she was very busy
at her hand-mill, singing as she used to do her work, "Grind mill; grind
mill; for even Pittacus the prince of great Mitylene, grinds" [Greek
footnote