hings,
The fruits of Ceres, and thirst-quenching springs?

And yet a little after this, going on, he commends Diogenes, who forced
his nature to pass from himself in public, and said to those that were
present: I wish I could in the same manner drive hunger also out of my
belly. What reason then is there to praise in the same books him who
rejects all pleasure, and withal, him who for the sake of pleasure does
such things, and proceeds to such a degree of filthiness? Moreover,
having in his book of Nature written, that Nature has produced many
creatures for the sake of beauty, delighting in pulchritude and pleasing
herself with variety, and having added a most absurd expression, that
the peacock was made for the sake of his tail and for the beauty of it;
he has, in his treatise of a Commonweal, sharply reprehended those who
bred peacocks and nightingales, as if he were making laws contrary to
the lawgiver of the world, and deriding Nature for pleasing herself in
the beauty of animals to which a wise man would not give a place in
his city. For how can it but be absurd to blame those who nourish these
creatures, if he commends Providence which created them? In his Fifth
Book of Nature, having said, that bugs profitably awaken us out of our
sleep, that mice make us cautious not to lay up everything negligently,
and that it is probable that Nature, rejoicing in variety, takes delight
in the production of fair creatures, he adds these words: "The evidence
of this is chiefly shown in the peacock's tail; for here she manifests
that this animal was made for the sake of his tail, and not the
contrary; so, the male being made, the female follows." In his book of
a Commonweal, having said that we are ready to paint even dunghills,
a little after he adds, that some beautify their cornfields with vines
climbing up trees, and myrtles set in rows, and keep peacocks, doves,
and partridges, that they may hear them cry and coo, and nightingales.
Now I would gladly ask him, what he thinks of bees and honey? For it
was of consequence, that he who said bugs were created profitably should
also say that bees were created unprofitably. But if he allows these a
place in his city, why does he drive away his citizens from things that
are pleasing and delight the ear? To be brief,--as he would be very
absurd who should blame the guests for eating sweetmeats and other
delicacies and drinking of wine, and at the same time commend him who
invite