tbe )l&er 33 



abysses of the deep, and to seek each kind of 

 oyster at the risk and peril of shipwreck ; to go 

 searching for birds beyond the river Phasis 

 even, which, protected as they are by the ter- 

 rors invented by fable, are only rendered all the 

 more precious thereby ; to go searching for 

 others, again, in Numidia, and the very sepul- 

 chres of Ethiopia, or else to be battling with 

 wild beasts, and to get eaten one's self while 

 trying to take a prey which another person is to 

 eat ! And yet, by Hercules ! how little do the 

 productions of the garden cost us in comparison 

 with these ! How more than sufficient for 

 every wish and for every want ! were it not, 

 indeed, that here, as in every thing else, turn 

 which way we will, we find the same grounds 

 for our wrath and indignation. We really 

 might be content to allow of fruits being grown 

 of the most excellent quality, remarkable, some 

 of them for their flavor, some for their size, 

 some, again, for the monstrosities of their 

 growth morsels all of them forbidden to the 

 poor ! We might allow of wines being kept till 

 they are mellowed with age, or enfeebled by 

 being passed through cloth strainers ; of men, 

 too, however prolonged their lives, never drink- 

 ing any but a wine that is still older than them- 

 selves ! We might allow of luxury devising how 

 best to extract the very aroma, as it were, and 



