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Besides, he that affirmed that whosoever would enjoy tranquillity of mind must disengage himself from all private and public concerns, would make us pay dear for our tranquillity by buying it with idleness; as if he should prescribe thus to a sick man: — Lie still, poor wretch, and keep thy bed. Eurip. Orestes, 258. Now stupefaction is a bad remedy for desperate pain in the body, and verily he would be no better physician for the soul who should order idleness, softness, and neglect of friends, kinsfolk, and country, in order to remove its trouble and grief. It is likewise a false position that those live most contentedly who have the least to do; for then by this rule women should be of more sedate dispositions than men, since they only sit at home and mind their domestic affairs. Whereas in fact, as Hesiod expresseth it, — The virgins’ tender limbs are kept from cold; Not the least wind to touch them is so bold; Hesiod, Works and Days, 519. but nevertheless we see that grief and troubles and discontentments, arising from jealousy or superstition or vain opinions, flow as it were with a torrent into the apartments of the females. And though Laertes lived twenty years in the fields secluded from the world, and Only a toothless hag did make his bed, Draw him his drink, and did his table spread, Odyss. I. 191. though he forsook his house and country, and fled from a kingdom, yet grief with his sloth and sadness still kept him company. There are some to whom idleness hath been an affliction; as for instance, — But raging still, amidst his navy sat The stern Achilles, steadfast in his hate; Nor mix’d in combat, nor in council join’d; But wasting cares lay heavy on his mind: In his black thoughts revenge and slaughter roll, And scenes of blood rise dreadful in his soul. Il. I. 488.
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And he himself complains of it, being mightily disturbed, after this manner: — I live an idle burden to the ground. Il. XVIII. 104.
