The Frugal Life: A Paradox

“That a Spare Diet is better than a splendid and sumptuous.”
A PARADOX: By Ortensio Lando, M.D. 1543.
With Introduction by .... WILLIAM E. A. AXON.
MANCHESTER. 1899.
THE PARADOX OF A FRUGAL LIFE.
When a scholar, such as Ortensio Lando was, undertakes to defend paradoxes he is not always to be taken too seriously, but in this praise of frugal life and simple diet there is an accent of sincerity that carries conviction.
William E. A. Axon.
I verily believe, however I have titled this opinion, yet it will by no means be allowed for a Paradox by a number of those, whose judgement ought to bear the greatest sway. And, to speak freely, it would seem to me very uncouth, that any man that makes a profession of more understanding than a beast, should open his mouth to the contrary, or make any scruple at all of readily subscribing to the truth and evidence of this position, that a frugal and simple diet is much better than a full and dainty.
Tell me, you that seem to demur on the business, whether a sober and austere diet serves not, without further help, to chase away that racking humour of the gout, which by all other helps that can be used, scarce receives any mitigation at all; but, do what can be done, lies tormenting the body, till it have spent itself. Tell me whether this holy medicine serve not to the driving away of headache, to the cure of dizziness, to the stopping of rheums, to the stay of flukes, to the getting away of loathsome diseases, to the freedom from dishonest belchings, to the prevention of agues, and, in a word, to the clearing and draining of all ill humours whatsoever in the body. Nor do the benefits thereof stay only in the body, but ascend likewise to the perfecting of the soul itself: for how manifest is it, that through a sober and strict diet, the mind and all the faculties thereof become waking, quick, and cheerful, how is the wit sharpened, the understanding solidated, the affections tempered, and, in a word, the whole soul and spirit of a man freed from encumbrances, and made apt and expedite for the apprehension of wisdom, and the embracement of virtue?