SUBSECT. II.—_Diet rectified in quantity_.
Man alone, saith [2926]Cardan, eats and drinks without appetite, and useth all his pleasure without necessity, animae vitio, and thence come many inconveniences unto him. For there is no meat whatsoever, though otherwise wholesome and good, but if unseasonably taken, or immoderately used, more than the stomach can well bear, it will engender crudity, and do much harm. Therefore [2927]Crato adviseth his patient to eat but twice a day, and that at his set meals, by no means to eat without an appetite, or upon a full stomach, and to put seven hours' difference between dinner and supper. Which rule if we did observe in our colleges, it would be much better for our healths: but custom, that tyrant, so prevails, that contrary to all good order and rules of physic, we scarce admit of five. If after seven hours' tarrying he shall have no stomach, let him defer his meal, or eat very little at his ordinary time of repast. This very counsel was given by Prosper Calenus to Cardinal Caesius, labouring of this disease; and [2928] Platerus prescribes it to a patient of his, to be most severely kept. Guianerius admits of three meals a day, but Montanus, consil. 23. pro. Ab. Italo, ties him precisely to two. And as he must not eat overmuch, so he may not absolutely fast; for as Celsus contends, lib. 1. Jacchinus 15. in 9. Rhasis, [2929]repletion and inanition may both do harm in two contrary extremes. Moreover, that which he doth eat, must be well [2930]chewed, and not hastily gobbled, for that causeth crudity and wind; and by all means to eat no more than he can well digest. Some think (saith [2931] Trincavelius, lib. 11. cap. 29. de curand. part. hum.) the more they eat the more they nourish themselves: eat and live, as the proverb is, not knowing that only repairs man, which is well concocted, not that which is devoured. Melancholy men most part have good [2932]appetites, but ill digestion, and for that cause they must be sure to rise with an appetite; and that which Socrates and Disarius the physicians in [2933]Macrobius so much require, St. Hierom enjoins Rusticus to eat and drink no more than, will [2934]satisfy hunger and thirst. [2935]Lessius, the Jesuit, holds twelve, thirteen, or fourteen ounces, or in our northern countries, sixteen at most, (for all students, weaklings, and such as lead an idle sedentary life) of meat, bread, &c., a fit proportion for a whole day, and as much or little more of drink. Nothing pesters the body and mind sooner than to be still fed, to eat and ingurgitate beyond all measure, as many do. [2936] By overmuch eating and continual feasts they stifle nature, and choke up themselves; which, had they lived coarsely, or like galley slaves been tied to an oar, might have happily prolonged many fair years. A great inconvenience comes by variety of dishes, which causeth the precedent distemperature, [2937]than which (saith Avicenna) nothing is worse; to feed on diversity of meats, or overmuch, Sertorius-like, in lucem caenare, and as commonly they do in Muscovy and Iceland, to prolong their meals all day long, or all night. Our northern countries offend especially in this, and we in this island (ampliter viventes in prandiis et caenis, as [2938]Polydore notes) are most liberal feeders, but to our own hurt. [2939]Persicos odi puer apparatus: Excess of meat breedeth sickness, and gluttony causeth choleric diseases: by surfeiting many perish, but he that dieteth himself prolongeth his life, Ecclus. xxxvii. 29, 30. We account it a great glory for a man to have his table daily furnished with variety of meats: but hear the physician, he pulls thee by the ear as thou sittest, and telleth thee, [2940]that nothing can be more noxious to thy health than such variety and plenty. Temperance is a bridle of gold, and he that can use it aright, [2941]ego non summis viris comparo, sed simillimum Deo judico, is liker a God than a man: for as it will transform a beast to a man again, so will it make a man a God. To preserve thine honour, health, and to avoid therefore all those inflations, torments, obstructions, crudities, and diseases that come by a full diet, the best way is to [2942]feed sparingly of one or two dishes at most, to have ventrem bene moratum, as Seneca calls it, [2943]to choose one of many, and to feed on that alone, as Crato adviseth his patient. The same counsel [2944]Prosper Calenus gives to Cardinal Caesius, to use a moderate and simple diet: and though his table be jovially furnished by reason of his state and guests, yet for his own part to single out some one savoury dish and feed on it. The same is inculcated by [2945]Crato, consil. 9. l. 2.