Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	body_n	humour_n	nature_n	1,557	5	5.1825	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A47787	The temperate man, or, The right way of preserving life and health, together with soundness of the senses, judgment and memory unto extream old age in three treatises / the first written by the learned Leonardus Lessius, the second by Lodowich Cornaro, a noble gentleman of Venice, the third by a famous Italian; faithfully Englished.; Hygiasticon. English. 1678	Lessius, Leonardus, 1554-1623.; Cornarus, Ludwig.; Herbert, George, 1593-1633.; Ferrar, Nicholas, 1592-1637.	1678 (1678)	Wing L1181; ESTC R32465	69,139	222

or because there was not a due space of time left for the perfect concoction of food doth imperfectly digest then that Chylus or juice which it makes of the meats so taken is said to be Crude that is raw or to have Crudity in it which brings many inconveniences First it fills the brain and bowels with many phlegmatick and bilious excrements Secondly it breeds many obstructions in the narrow passages of the bowels Thirdly it corrupts the temper of the whole body Lastly it stuffes the veins with putrid humors whereof proceed very grievous diseases 32. These things might be largely demonstrated but the thing is manifest enough of it self especially the first and the second point I will only therefore explain the third and fourth When the Chylus is crude or malignantly concocted by the stomach and rather corrupted than digested for so Aristotle calls it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a corruption not a concoction there cannot be bred good blood in the store-house of the Liver out of this kind of Chylus but only that which is bad and vicious For as Physicians affirm The second concoction cannot amend the first Now then from corrupt blood there cannot be made good nourishment in the body but of necessity the whole temper of the body is corrupted and so becomes subject to diseases For the third concoction which is made in the small pores of the body where the blood is assimilated to every part which it is to nourish and lastly disposed to the receiving of the form thereof cannot mend the second By this means the temper of the body through these Crudities is by little and little altered and marred and made subject to many inconveniences Again the crudity of the Chylus is a cause that the veins through the whole body are replenished with impure and foul blood and such as is mingled with many evil humors which in tract of time do by little and little putrifie and at last upon occasion of Labor Heat Cold Winds and the like are set on fire breaking out into great and perilous diseases whereby an innumerable company of men do perish even in the flower of their age These inconveniences a sober course of Diet prevents by taking away the Cruditities which are the cause of all For when there is no more taken in than the stomach can well concoct and afterwards sufficient space of time is allowed thereunto Crudities cannot arise but the Chylus is made good and agreeable to Nature And from good Chylus good blood is bred And from good blood there followeth good nourishment and good temper in and throughout the whole body By this means also the putrefaction of the humors in the veins is avoided as likewise obstructions in the inward parts and those superfluous excrements which do so often vex and molest the head and inward parts and joynts of the body So that a good constitution of the body and health is hereby preserved for they consist in these two things to wit the due proportion and symmetry of the humors both in respect of their quantity and quality and in a certain spongy kind of disposition throughout the whole body having no let nor impediment by obstructions so that the spirits and blood have their free passage and recourse through all parts Nor doth Sobriety only prevent the Crudity of humors and the evil consequences arising thereupon but it doth also consume the superfluous humors and that much more safely and effectually than bodily exercise doth as the famous Doctor Viringus doth learnedly shew in his Fifth Book concerning Fasting chap. 3 4 5. For Labor doth confusedly stir the body and alwaies exerciseth some parts more than other and most commonly only some few parts alone and that ofttimes with a great perturbation in the humors with much heat and hazard of sickness especially of Fevers Pleurisies and several kinds of Distillations upon sundry parts which breed much grief and pain But Abstinence pierceth far more inwardly even unto the very entrals and to all the joynts and knittings in the body and doth with ease and equality make a general evacuation For it extenuates that which is overthickened it opens that which is closed it consumes those things that are superfluous it unlocks the passages of the spirits and makes the spirits themselves the more clear and that without disturbance of the humors without fluxes and pains without heating the body and without hazard of diseases without expense of time or loss and neglect of better imployments Notwithstanding it must needs be granted That Exercise if it be used in due time and do not exceed measure is very profitable and to many necessary Yet ordinarily to such as lead temperate and sober lives and follow their studies being much given to the imployments of the mind there is no great need of long walks or other long continued exercises whereby much time is wasted and lost but it is sufficient if only for the space of a quarter or half an hour before meals they use to swing or to toss a Bar Stool or some such like heavy thing or taking in each hand a weight of Two or Three pounds they strike and swing their arms about them the one after the other as if they fought with a shadow These are Exercises which many grave and worthy men even Cardinals themselves do use and that not undecently in their Chambers And there is no other which I know that doth more stir all the muscles of the breast and of the back nor more rid the joynts of superfluous humors than these forenamed Exercises do CHAP. VI. Of Two other Commodities which it brings to the Body 33. THe second Commodity is That a sober Diet doth not only preserve from those diseases which are bred by crudities and inward corruptions of the humors but it doth also arm and fortifie against outward causes For they who have their bodies free and untainted and the humors well tempered are not so easily hurt by Heat Cold Labor and the like inconveniences as other men are who are full of ill humors and if at any time they be prejudiced by these outward inconveniences they are much sooner and easilier cured The self-same comes to pass in wounds bruises puttings out of joynt and breaking of bones in regard that there is either no flux at all of ill humors or at least very little to that part that is affected Now the flux of humors doth very much hinder the cure and causeth pain and inflamations Our Author doth confirm this by a notable proof in himself num 11. Furthermore a sober Diet doth arm and fortifie against the Plague for the venome thereof is much better resisted if the body be clear and free Whereupon Socrates by his Frugality and Temperance brought to pass that he himself was never sick of the Plague which oftimes greatly wasted the City of Athens where he lived as Laertius writeth libro

Original Humidity in which Life chiesly consists is wasted together with the inbred heat For whilest the Humidity or Moisture wasteth the heat founded therein doth equally abate and the moisture being spent the heat is joyntly extinguished as we see it comes to pass in Lamps After this manner do most of them die who have observed an exact Rule of diet unless perchance they die by means of outward violence For having prevented evil Humors by their good diet there is no inward cause in them whereby their Temper should be violently overthrown nor their Natural Heat oppressed And therefore it will needs follow that they must live till the Original Moisture together with the Heat that is founded thereupon be so consumed as it is not sufficient to retain the soul any longer in the body And in the like manner would a mans death be if God should withdraw his conservation of the Natural Heat although the Radical Humor should remain or on the other side if the Radical Humor should by divine operation be in an instant consumed 41. The Fifth Commodity of a sober Diet is That it makes the body Lightsome Agil Fresh and Expedite to all the motions appertaining thereunto For Heaviness Oppression of Nature and Dulness proceed from the abundance of Humors which do stop up the way of the spirits and cloy the joynts and fill them too full of moisture so that the excess of Humors being taken away by means of Diet the cause of that Heaviness Sloth and Dulness is taken away and the passages of the spirits are made free And moreover by means of the self-same Diet it comes to pass that the Concoction is perfect and so good blood is bred out of which abundance of pure spirits are made in which all the vigor and agility of the body mainly consisteth CHAP. VIII That it maintains the Senses in their integrity and vigor 42. WE have found Five Commodities which Sobriety brings to the Body Let us now see the Benefits which it affords to the Mind and they may likewise be well reduced to Five The First is That it ministreth soundness and vigor to the outward Senses For the Sense of Seeing is chiefly deaded in old men by reason that the Optick Nerves are cloyed with superfluous humors and vapors whereby it comes to pass that the Animal spirits which serve to the sight are either darkned or not afforded in such abundance as is needful for quick and clear discerning of things This impediment is taken away or much diminished by the Sobriety of meat and drink and by abstinence from those things which replenish the head with fumes such as are all fat things and especially Butter if it be taken in a good quantity strong wines and thick beer or such as are compounded with those herbs that fly up into the Head 43. The Sense of Hearing is likewise hindered by the flux of crude and superfluous humors out of the Brain into the Organ of hearing or into the Nerve that serves unto it for by this means it comes to pass that a man grows deaf or thick of hearing in that part where this flux of humors is Now this flux is very easily prevented and driven away by the Sobriety of diet And as it may be taken away by help of Physick after it hath befallen a man in case it be not let go on too long so as it take root so likewise it may be taken away by means of Diet especially if together therewith some Topical Medicines to be used 44. The Sense of Tasting is chiefly marred by ill humors that infect the Organ thereof As if cholerick tart or salt humors possess the tongue and throat whether it be that they come out of the Head or out of the Stomach whose inward tunicle is continued with these Organs all things will relish bitter tart and salt This indisposition is taken away by good Diet by means whereof it is further brought about that the most ordinary meats yea and dry bread it self do better taste and relish a sober man and yield him greater pleasure than the greatest dainties that can be do to those who are given to Gluttony For the evil juices that did infect the stomach and the Organ of the Taste and which bred a loathing and offence being removed and cleared the Appetite returneth of it self and the pure relish and natural delight in meats is felt In like manner good Diet conserveth the Senses of Smelling and Touching 45. Nevertheless I grant that by long age the vigor of the Senses and especially of the Eyes and Ears is much abated and almost extinct in regard that the Temper of the Organs as also of the other parts is by little and little dissolved the Radical Humor and the Native Heat being by degrees consumed and dried up whereupon the Temper becomes more dry than is proportionable to the operations of the Senses and all the passages and pores are stopped up with cold Phlegm which is most of all other things contrary to the functions of the mind For as old men by the inward temper of their bodies grow dry and cold in excess so likewise they become full of moisture by reason of excrementitial humors so that old Age is nothing else but a cold drie temper proceeding from the consumption of the Radical Humor and the Native Heat to which there must needs be conjoyned great store of cold Phlegm dispersed through the whole body CHAP. IX That it mitigates the Passions and Affections 46. THe Second Commodity which a sober Diet brings to the Soul of a man is That it doth very much abate and diminish the Affections and Passions and especially those of Anger and Melancholy taking away from them their excess and inordinate violence The self-same it works upon those Affections which are conservant about the taste and touch of delectable things so that in this regard it ought to be highly prized For it is in truth a shameful thing not to be able to master Choler to be subject to Melancholy and to sower cares of the Phansie to be enthralled to Gluttony and Slave to the Belly to be hurried on with violence to eating and drinking and poured out as it were to the exercise of lust and concupiscence Nor is it only shameful and contrary to Vertue to be thus disposed but also very prejudicial in regard of Health and full of opprobry in respect of good men But Sobriety with much ease remedies all these mischiefs partly subtracting and partly correcting the Humors of the body which are the causes of them For that the Humors are the causes of such Passions is both a received ground amongst all Physicians and Philosophers and manifest by experience 47. Inasmuch as we see those who are full of Cholerick Humors to be very Angry and Rash and those who abound with Melancholy to be alwaies troubled with griefs and fears And if these Humors be set on fire in

firiness of the spirits by abstaining from hot and windy meats and from the use of wine and strong beer at least so long as is needful for coming to the right Mediocrity And when the Seed is diminished and tempered and withal the spirits lustful imaginations do cease of their own accord or if so be they rise they are easily quelled except it be so that by Gods permission they are continued through the devils suggestion For lustful imaginations do spring up in the Mind through a certain kind of sympathy which they have with the disposition of the Body to wit by reason of the abundance of Seed and Spirits as also other imaginations do which follow the condition of the Predominant Humor as we formerly declared In sign and proof whereof we see the followers of Sobriety for the most part free from such kind of imaginations and temptations or rarely molested with them Now if so be there be not store of these causes laid up beforehand in the body Sobriety doth easily prevent their growth inasmuch as it causeth that a man neither eats nor drinks more than the sustenation of the body requires For he doth not measure the quantity of those things which he takes by his Appetite which is altogether deceitful but by Reason which looks what and how much is proportionable for the conservation of the Body and the performance of the duties and services belonging to the Mind 59. Now there is a double Reason why the Appetite becomes a deceitful Measurer in this kind The first is Because the Appetite doth not only desire that which is necessary to the conservation of the Body but also that which may serve for the use of Procreation For the appetite of eating and drinking is both in men and beasts ordained to both these ends to wit to the conservation of the Individual and to the propagation of the whole Kind And therefore Reason chargeth them who desire to live chastly and not to be molested by the sting of Lust that they should not obey their Appetite to the full but give it satisfaction only to the half that is only asmuch as is needful for the sustenance of the Body which thing if they carefully observe there will be little store of Seed bred in their Bodies and very few incitements to Lust For Seed is bred of that superfluity of the nourishment which was more than requisite for the sustentation of the body So that where there is no more sustenance taken in than is sufficient for the nourishment of the body there remains either nothing at all or very little to be distributed for the increase of Seed 60. The other cause why the Appetite is deceitful is Because it oftentimes longs after more than is any way proportionable to either of these fore-mentioned ends that is to say more than is fitting either for the nourishment of the Body or for the matter of Propagation And that is caused either through the ill disposition of the stomach as it comes to pass in that ravening kind of Appetite which is called Dogs-hunger Ox-hunger and when the Melancholick Humor is soaked into the tunicles of the stomach or else by reason of the condiments and Lickorish cooking of the meats themselves which by their variety and new relishes do go on continually provoking the Appetite and stirring up Gluttony In which regard this variety and curious dressing of meats is as Physicians teach especially to be eschewed by all them that are followers of Sobriety and Chastity and in very truth by all those who have care of their health concerning which thing we have discoursed more largely before By all this it appears That there is far greater vertue and power for the quenching of Lust in Sobriety and Abstinence than in other corporal mortifications such are hair-cloths whippings lying upon the ground and bodily labors for these do only afflict the body outwardly and but rase the skin as it were but come not at all to the ground of the evil which lies hidden within But Abstinence plucks up the cause of all by the roots in the inward veins reducing the natural temper to a just modiocrity This remedy then is to be used by all those who are vexed with this disease 61. And thus much touching the benefits and singular fruits of Sobriety all which might well be confirmed by the testimonies of the ancient holy Fathers but for brevity sake I omit them contenting my self with one passage only out of S. Chrysostom who in his first Homily concerning Fasting writes thus Fasting is asmuch as lies in us an imitation of the Angels a contemning of things present a school of prayer a nourishing of the soul a bridle of the mouth an abatement of concupiscence as they that use to fast do well know and prove in themselves It mollifies rage it appeaseth anger it calms the tempests of Nature it excites reason it clears the mind it disburdens the flesh it chaseth away night-pollutions it frees from head-ach and it breeds clear and well-coloured visages By fasting a man gets composed behavior free utterance of his tongue right apprehensions of his mind c. See him likewise in his First Homily on Genesis And agreeable to this we find many things in S. Basil in his Oration concerning Fasting In Ambrose in his Book of Elias and Fasting and in Cyprian in his Oration concerning Fasting and in many others CHAP. XIII That a Sober Diet is not of any grief or trouble and that Intemperance bringeth many great and grievous maladies 62. BUt some will object That this straitness of Diet is troublesome in regard it leaves a man always tormented as it were with hunger and therefore it were better to die sooner than to prolong a wretched life by such a painful medicine accordingly as it was once said by a certain diseased person whose Thigh was to be cut off that The preservation of life would be two dear bought at the price of so much pain To which I answer At first indeed this spareness of Diet is somewhat troublesome in regard of the contrary usage formerly and also in regard of the inlargement of the stomach but by little and little that trouble is removed For we must not suddenly pass from a great quantity to a small but every day by degrees subtracting a little till we come to the just measure as Hippocrates doth oftentimes warn for by this means the stomach is contracted by little and little without any great trouble and the greediness which was formerly felt is taken away Now when the stomach comes to be contracted to the right measure that it ought there is no more trouble remaining by means of a Sober Diet inasmuch as that small quantity doth justly agree and answer the capacity and strength of the stomach In proof whereof we see that it is very grievous to most men to forbear their usual Break-fast at the beginning of Lent but

have used therein I say therefore that the infirmities which did not only begin but had already gone far in me first caused me to leave Intemperance to which I was much addicted For by it and my ill constitution having a most cold and moist stomach I fell into divers diseases to wit into the pain of the stomach and often of the side and the beginning of the Gout with almost a continual fever and thirst From this ill temper there remained little else to be expected of me than that after many troubles and griefs I should quickly come to an end whereas my life seemed as far from it by Nature as it was near it by Intemperance When therefore I was thus affected from the Thirty fifth year of my age to the Fortieth having tried all remedies fruitlesly the Physicians told me that yet there was one help for me if I could constantly pursue it to wit A sober and orderly life for this had every way great force for the recovering and preserving of Health as a disorderly life to the overthrowing of it as I too well by experience found For Temperance preserves even old men and sickly men sound But Intemperance destroys most healthy and flourishing constitutions For contrary causes have contrary effects and the faults of Nature are often amended by Art as barren grounds are made fruitful by good husbandry They added withal that unless I speedily used that remedy within a few months I should be driven to that exigent that there would be no help for me but Death shortly to be expected Upon this weighing their reasons with my self and abhorring from so sudden an end and finding my self continually oppressed with pain and sickness I grew fully perswaded that all my griefs arose out of Intemperance and therefore out of an hope of avoiding death and pain I resolved to live a temperate life Whereupon being directed by them in the way I ought to hold I understood that the food I was to use was such as belonged to sickly constitutions and that in a small quantity This they had told me before But I then not liking that kind of Diet followed my Appetite and did eat meats pleasing to my taste and when I felt inward heats drank delightful wines and that in great quantity telling my Physicians nothing thereof as is the custom of sick people But after I had resolved to follow Temperance and Reason and saw that it was no hard thing to do so but the proper duty of man I so addicted my self to this course of life that I never went a foot out of the way Upon this I found within a few days that I was exceedingly helped and by continuance thereof within less than one year although it may seem to some incredible I was perfectly cured of all my infirmities Being now sound and well I began to consider the force of Temperance and to think thus with my self If Temperance had so much power as to bring me health how much more to preserve it Wherefore I began to search out most diligently what meats were agreeable unto me and what disagreeable And I purposed to try whether those that pleased my taste brought me commodity or discommodity and whether that Proverb wherewith Gluttons use to defend themselves to wit That which savors is good and nourisheth be consonant to truth This upon trial I found most false for strong and very cool wines pleased my taste best as also melons and other fruit in like manner raw lettice fish pork sausages pulse and cake and py-crust and the like and yet all these I found hurtful Therefore trusting on experience I forsook all these kind of meats and drinks and chose that wine that fitted my stomach and in such measure as easily might be digested Above all taking care never to rise with a full stomach but so as I might well both eat and drink more By this means within less than a year I was not only freed from all those evils which had so long beset me and were almost become incurable but also afterwards I fell not into that yearly disease whereinto I was wont when I pleased my Sense and Appetite Which benefits also still continue because from the time that I was made whole I never since departed from my setled course of Sobriety whose admirable power causeth that the meat and drink that is taken in fit measure gives true strength to the body all superfluities passing away without difficulty and no ill humors being ingendred in the body Yet with this diet I avoided other hurtful things also as too much heat and cold weariness watching ill air overmuch use of the benefit of marriage For although the power of health consists most in the proportion of meat and drink yet these forenamed things have also their force I preserved me also asmuch as I could from hatred and melancholy and other perturbations of the mind which have a great power over our constitutions Yet could I not so avoid all these but that now and then I fell into them which gained me this experience that I perceived that they had no great power to hurt those bodies which were kept in good order by a moderate Diet So that I can truly say That they who in these two things that enter in at the mouth keep a fit proportion shall receive little hurt from other excesses This Galen confirms when he says that immoderate heats and colds and winds and labors did little hurt him because in his meats and drinks he kept a due moderation and therefore never was sick by any of these inconveniences except it were for one only day But mine own experience confirmeth this more as all that know me can testifie For having endured many heats and colds and other like discommodities of the body and troubles of the mind all these did hurt me little whereas they hurt them very much who live intemperately For when my brother and others of my kindred saw some great powerful men pick quarrels against me fearing lest I should be overthrown they were possessed with a deep Melancholy a thing usual to disorderly lives which increased so much in them that it brought them to a sudden end But I whom that matter ought to have affected most received no inconvenience thereby because that humor abounded not in me Nay I began to perswade my self that this suit and contention was raised by the Divine Providence that I might know what great power a sober and temperate life hath over our bodies and minds and that at length I should be a conqueror as also a little after it came to pass For in the end I got the victory to my great honor and no less profit whereupon also I joyed exceedingly which excess of joy neither could do me any hurt By which it is manifest That neither melancholy nor any other passion can hurt a temperate life Moreover I say That even bruises and squats and falls which often kill others

disorderly For if a friend who visits thee in thy sickness and only comforts and condoles doth perform an acceptable thing to thee how much more dearly should a Physician be esteemed who not only as a friend doth visit thee but help thee But that a man may preserve himself in health I advise that instead of a Physician a regular life is to be imbraced which as is manifest by experience is a natural Physick most agreeable to us and also doth preserve even ill tempers in good health and procure that they prolong their life even to a hundred years and more and that at length they shut up their days like a Lamp only by a pure consumption of the radical moisture without grief or perturbation of humors Many have thought that this could be done by Aurum potabile or the Philosophers-stone sought of many and found of few But surely there is no such matter if Temperance be wanting But sensual men as most are desiring to satisfie their Appetite and pamper their belly although they see themselves ill-handled by their intemperance yet shun a sober life because they say It is better to please the Appetite though they live Ten years less than otherwise they should do than always to live under bit and bridle But they consider not of how great moment Ten years are in mature age wherein wisdom and all kind of vertues is most vigorous which but in that age can hardly be perfected And that I may say nothing of other things are not almost all the learned books that we have written by their Authors in that age and those Ten years which they set at nought in regard of their belly Besides these Belly-gods say that an orderly life is so hard a thing that it cannot be kept To this I answer that Galen kept it and held it for the best Physick so did Plato also and Isocrates and Tully and many others of the ancient and in our age Paul the Third and Cardinal Bembo who therefore lived so long and among other Dukes Laudus and Donatus and many others of inferior condition not only in the city but also in villages and hamlets Wherefore since many have observed a regular life both of old times and later years it is no such thing which may not be performed especially since in observing it there needs not many and curious things but only that a man should begin and by little and little accustom himself unto it Neither doth it hinder that Plato says That they who are imployed in the common-wealth cannot live regularly because they must often endure heats and colds and winds and showers and divers labors which suit not with an orderly life For I answer that those inconveniences are of no great moment as I shewed before if a man be temperate in meat and drink which is both easie for common-weals-men and very convenient both that they may preserve themselves from diseases which hinder publick imployment as also that their mind in all things wherein they deal may be more lively and vigorous But some may say he which lives a regular life eating always light meats and in a little quantity what diet shall he use in diseases which being in health he hath anticapated I answer first Nature which endeavors to preserve a man as much as she can teacheth us how to govern our selves in sickness For suddenly it takes away our appetite so that we can eat but a very little wherewith she is very well contented So that a sick man whether he hath lived heretofore orderly or disorderly when he is sick ought not to eat but such meats as are agreeable to his disease and that in much smaller quantity than when he was well For if he should keep his former proportion Nature which is already burdened with a disease would be wholly oppressed Secondly I answer better That he which lives a temperate life cannot fall into diseases and but very seldom into indispositions Because Temperance takes away the causes of diseases and the cause being taken away there is no place for the effect Wherefore since an orderly life is so profitable so vertuous so decent and so holy it is worthy by all means to be imbraced especially since it is easie and most agreeable to the Nature of Man No man that follows it is bound to eat and drink so little as I No man is forbidden to eat fruit or fish which I eat not For I eat little because a little sufficeth my weak stomach and I abstain from fruit and fish and the like because they hurt me But they who find benefit in these meats may yea ought to use them yet all must needs take heed lest they take a greater quantity of any meat or drink though most agreeable to them then their stomach can easily digest So that he which is offended with no kind of meat and drink hath the quantity and not the quality for his rule which is very easie to be observed Let no man here object unto me That there are many who though they live disorderly yet continue in health to their lives end Because since this is at the best but uncertain dangerous and very rare the presuming upon it ought not to lead us to a disorderly life It is not the part of a wise man to expose himself to so many dangers of discases and death only upon a hope of an happy issue which yet befalls very few An old man of an ill constitution but living orderly is more sure of life than the most strong young man who lives disorderly But some too much given to Appetite object that a long life is no such desirable thing because that after one is once Sixty five years old all the time we live after is rather death than life But these err greatly as I will shew by my self recounting the delights and pleasures in this age of 83 which now I take and which are such as that men generally account me happy I am continually in health and I am so nimble that I can easily get on horseback without the advantage of the ground and sometimes I go up high stairs and hills on foot Then I am ever chearful merry and well-contented free from all troubles and troublesome thoughts in whose place joy and peace have taken up their standing in my heart I am not weary of life which I pass with great delight I confer often with worthy men excelling in wit learning behavior and other vertues When I cannot have their company I give my self to the reading of some learned book and afterwards to writing makinglit my aim in all things how I may help others to the furthest of my power All these things I do at my ease and at fit seasons and in mine own houses which besides that they are in the fairest place of this learned City of Padua are very beautiful and convenient above most in this age being so built by me according to the rules