Q. Why are gelded beasts weaker than such as are not gelded? A. Because
they have less heat, and by that means less force and strength.
* * * * *
THE PROBLEMS OF
MARCUS ANTONINUS SANCTIPERTIAS
Q. Why is it esteemed, in the judgment of the most wise, the hardest
thing to know a man's self? A. Because nothing can be known that is of
so great importance to man for the regulation of his conduct in life.
Without this knowledge, man is like the ship without either compass or
rudder to conduct her to port, and is tossed by every passion and
prejudice to which his natural constitution is subjected. To know the
form and perfection of man's self, according to the philosophers, is a
task too hard; and a man, says Plato, is nothing, or if he be anything,
he is nothing, but his soul.
Q. Why is a man, though endowed with reason, the most unjust of all
living creatures? A. Because only man is desirous of honour; and so it
happens that every one covets to seem good, and yet naturally shuns
labour, though he attain no virtue by it.
Q. Why doth immoderate copulation do more hurt than immoderate letting
of blood? A. The seed is full of nutriment, and better prepared for the
nurture of the body, than the blood; for the blood is nourished by the
seed.
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