TEMPERANCE AND GLUTTONY 



i^O runs the antithesis according to some 

 creeds. Others superadd Chastity to Tem- 

 perance, or Lust to Gluttony. Not that 

 words matter, when the meaning is the 

 same. And it is so here, for we have 

 to do with Restraint or Excess in either 

 mental or bodily passions. 



So far as the former is concerned, we are barred by the 

 same primary obstacle to comparison that we have met with 

 before ; since who can tell whether our fellow mortals are 

 temperate in thought ? 



On the other hand as we share all the bodily desires and 

 passions with the beasts that perish, we should here at least 

 have solid ground beneath our feet. 



In regard, therefore, to hunger and thirst. It must be 

 admitted that the satisfaction of these bodily wants mono- 

 polises, in one way, more of the lives of the animals than 

 they do of ours ; at the same time this is due to the fact 

 that each individual finds its own food without help. Pro- 

 bably also such food gives them more physical pleasure. 

 Even man enjoys the bread he has earned himself, and 

 Nature invariably gilds a pill that is necessary for the sur- 

 vival of a race. 



