Contestata suas, sed nec sibi depertisse.
Which to her guests she shows, with all her pelf,
Thus far my maids, but this I did myself.
MEMB. V.
Waking and terrible Dreams rectified.
As waking that hurts, by all means must be avoided, so sleep, which so much helps, by like ways, [3376]“must be procured, by nature or art, inward or outward medicines, and be protracted longer than ordinary, if it may be, as being an especial help.” It moistens and fattens the body, concocts, and helps digestion (as we see in dormice, and those Alpine mice that sleep all winter), which Gesner speaks of, when they are so found sleeping under the snow in the dead of winter, as fat as butter. It expels cares, pacifies the mind, refresheth the weary limbs after long work:
[3377]Somne quies rerum, placidissime somne deorum,
Pax animi, quem cura fugit, qui corpora duris
Fessa ministeriis mulces reparasque labori.
Sleep, rest of things, O pleasing deity,