Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus)
2.2.4.
Now learn the benefits that accompany plain living.
First good health. Think how simple fare once suited you
If you want to discover how ill-assorted courses
Harm a man. As soon as you mix boiled and roast,
Or oysters and thrushes, the sweet juice will turn acid,
The thick bile will cause stomach-ache. See how pale
The diners all seem as they leave the doubtful feast!
Bloated with yesterday’s excess the body weighs down
The soul, and nails a fragment of divine spirit to earth.
But the plain-living man who eats then snatches a nap
Quick as a flash, rises refreshed for his appointed tasks.
He can still turn to a richer diet, when an annual holiday
Comes round, or he wants to fill out his slender frame,
Or when advancing age demands greater indulgence:
But if severe illness strikes you, or feeble senility,
How can you increase those indulgences you take
So much for granted while you’re young and healthy?