登陆注册
5362600000301

第301章

Philosophy thinks she has not ill employed her talent when she has given the sovereignty of the soul and the authority of restraining our appetites to reason. Amongst which, they who judge that there is none more violent than those which spring from love, have this opinion also, that they seize both body and soul, and possess the whole man, so that even health itself depends upon them, and medicine is sometimes constrained to pimp for them; but one might, on the contrary, also say, that the mixture of the body brings an abatement and weakening; for such desires are subject to satiety, and capable of material remedies.

Many, being determined to rid their soul from the continual alarms of this appetite, have made use of incision and amputation of the rebelling members; others have subdued their force and ardour by the frequent application of cold things, as snow and vinegar. The sackcloths of our ancestors were for this purpose, which is cloth woven of horse hair, of which some of them made shirts, and others girdles, to torture and correct their reins. A prince, not long ago, told me that in his youth upon a solemn festival in the court of King Francis I., where everybody was finely dressed, he would needs put on his father's hair shirt, which was still kept in the house; but how great soever his devotion was, he had not patience to wear it till night, and was sick a long time after; adding withal, that he did not think there could be any youthful heat so fierce that the use of this recipe would not mortify, and yet perhaps he never essayed the most violent; for experience shows us, that such emotions are often seen under rude and slovenly clothes, and that a hair shirt does not always render those chaste who wear it.

Xenocrates proceeded with greater rigour in this affair; for his disciples, to make trial of his continency, having slipt Lais, that beautiful and famous courtesan, into his bed, quite naked, excepting the arms of her beauty and her wanton allurements, her philters, finding that, in despite of his reason and philosophical rules, his unruly flesh began to mutiny, he caused those members of his to be burned that he found consenting to this rebellion. Whereas the passions which wholly reside in the soul, as ambition, avarice, and the rest, find the reason much more to do, because it cannot there be helped but by its own means; neither are those appetites capable of satiety, but grow sharper and increase by fruition.

The sole example of Julius Caesar may suffice to demonstrate to us the disparity of these appetites; for never was man more addicted to amorous delights than he: of which one testimony is the peculiar care he had of his person, to such a degree, as to make use of the most lascivious means to that end then in use, as to have all the hairs of his body twitched off, and to wipe all over with perfumes with the extremest nicety.

And he was a beautiful person in himself, of a fair complexion, tall, and sprightly, full faced, with quick hazel eyes, if we may believe Suetonius; for the statues of him that we see at Rome do not in all points answer this description. Besides his wives, whom he four times changed, without reckoning the amours of his boyhood with Nicomedes, king of Bithynia, he had the maidenhead of the renowned Cleopatra, queen of Egypt; witness the little Caesario whom he had by her. He also made love to. Eunoe, queen of Mauritania, and at Rome, to Posthumia, the wife of Servius Sulpitius; to Lollia, the wife of Gabinius to Tertulla, the wife of Crassus, and even to Mutia, wife to the great Pompey: which was the reason, the Roman historians say, that she was repudiated by her husband, which Plutarch confesses to be more than he knew; and the Curios, both father and son, afterwards reproached Pompey, when he married Caesar's daughter, that he had made himself son-in-law to a man who had made him cuckold, and one whom he himself was wont to call AEgisthus. Besides all these, he entertained Servilia, Cato's sister and mother to Marcus Brutus, whence, every one believes, proceeded the great affection he had to Brutus, by reason that he was born at a time when it was likely he might be his son. So that I have reason, methinks, to take him for a man extremely given to this debauch, and of very amorous constitution. But the other passion of ambition, with which he was infinitely smitten, arising in him to contend with the former, it was boon compelled to give way.

And here calling to mind Mohammed, who won Constantinople, and finally exterminated the Grecian name, I do not know where these two were so evenly balanced; equally an indefatigable lecher and soldier: but where they both meet in his life and jostle one another, the quarrelling passion always gets the better of the amorous one, and this though it was out of its natural season never regained an absolute sovereignty over the other till he had arrived at an extreme old age and unable to undergo the fatigues of war.

同类推荐
  • 太上九真妙戒金箓度命拔罪妙经

    太上九真妙戒金箓度命拔罪妙经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 刘晏

    刘晏

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 万法归心录

    万法归心录

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 郴行录

    郴行录

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 索法号义辩讽诵文

    索法号义辩讽诵文

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 唯有陪伴,能抵御岁月漫长

    唯有陪伴,能抵御岁月漫长

    这不是一个轰轰烈烈的爱情故事,亦不是一段风起云涌的青春往事。但它却能让我们从中寻到自己的过往,青春已逝,而少年尚未迟暮。故事讲述了陆敬安、林轩、周思雨、萧然、高仁、刘莉、周思雪、刘琳等一帮生活在北京的年轻人,从校园到社会,从稚嫩到成熟,从单纯到功利的蜕变过程。以陆敬安的爱情经历、转变和抉择为主线,引出一系列人物身上背负的有关青春的秘密,同时展现了在成长蜕变的过程中,亲情、友情与爱情对他们原本的世界观与价值观的冲击。
  • 新本郑氏周易

    新本郑氏周易

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 星星彼泪记

    星星彼泪记

    天上的星星一闪一烁…………璀璨夺目的星空,也代表这对恋人。。。
  • 重生枭妻帅炸天

    重生枭妻帅炸天

    黑枭女王遇袭重生,睡了前世死敌大BOSS!宿敌在枕边,日夜不停战。可为何他画风突变?不但帮她虐渣斗白莲,还帮她复仇查凶手。顾九爷:弄死我的不正是景大少你吗?景少委屈:世上最痛苦的是你喜欢一个人,费尽心机接近,没等表白对方挂了。世上最幸福的是你喜欢的那个挂了的人,死而复生,还活在你床上!【酸爽独宠,1v1】此文又名《我一定遇到了假的死敌boss!》《死敌boss每天都想扑倒我》《我虐死敌千百遍,死敌待我如初恋》《死敌boss总想是热心教我开车》……
  • 混元战神

    混元战神

    长生永恒不朽的道路,自古到今,无数圣贤,莫不想探个神秘……古老相传,古有圣贤夜探星辰,窥其奥妙。天路虚无,长生之路,终极漫无飘渺缈……想要解那神秘,终化一屡黄土,为世人不得知。仙路真可寻吗?
  • 佛说观佛三昧海经

    佛说观佛三昧海经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 涅槃魔君

    涅槃魔君

    一位失落的少年,意外中进入了一个全新的世界,在那里,他将成为特殊的存在......打破人性七罪,突破成魔自古阴阳终须平衡,神魔两道终须共存光明笼罩的世界必定会被打破人为主观的光明将会被重写,虚伪的世界将会消失。涅槃之时,即魔君降临之日,万魔齐聚,与命运抗争!
  • 蓝色雾乡

    蓝色雾乡

    生物学博士子浩厌倦都市生活,为了逃避现实,在深山老林采集标本时误入一个终年被蓝雾笼罩的雾乡。子浩在此深得雾乡长者葛爷的器重,还得到雾乡最美少女晴儿的爱情。子浩希冀在此大有作为,并不断给葛爷献计献策,没有想到他却误入雾乡阴谋者的圈套,陷入万劫不复之中,并付出了鲜血的代价,几经周折才逃出雾乡。子浩脱险后,才发现自己宝贵年华已被岁月荒废。一部魔幻现实主义反桃花源中篇小说,充满诡异神秘色彩。作者出版电影文学剧本《蓝蝴蝶》等多部文学作品。
  • 宋词三百首(中华国学经典)

    宋词三百首(中华国学经典)

    中国传统文化博大精深,包罗万象,远不是一本书所能囊括的。本丛书只是选取其中部分内容分门别类进行介绍。我们约请的作者,都是各个领域的专业研究者,每一篇简短的文字背后其实都有多年的积累,他们努力使这些文字深入浅出而严谨准确。与此同时,我们给一些文字选配了图片,使读者形成更加直观的印象。无论您是什么学历,无论您是什么年龄,无论您从事的是什么职业,只要您是中国传统文化的爱好者,您都可以从本书中获得您想要的。
  • 故事会(2015年1月上)

    故事会(2015年1月上)

    朋友看了这期杂志的样刊,说她最喜欢《喊夜》这个故事。我问为什么,朋友说,她相信这个故事是真实的,因为那种来自陌生人的温暖,她也感受过。