It seems a more
difficult work to prove that the voluptuous man too is but a
servant. What can be more the life of a freeman, or, as we say
ordinarily, of a gentleman, than to follow nothing but his own
pleasures? Why, I'll tell you who is that true freeman and that
true gentleman; not he who blindly follows all his pleasures (the
very name of follower is servile), but he who rationally guides
them, and is not hindered by outward impediments in the conduct and
enjoyment of them. If I want skill or force to restrain the beast
that I ride upon, though I bought it, and call it my own, yet in the
truth of the matter I am at that time rather his man than he my
horse. The voluptuous men (whom we are fallen upon) may be divided,
I think, into the lustful and luxurious, who are both servants of
the belly; the other whom we spoke of before, the ambitious and the
covetous, were [Greek text], evil wild beasts; these are [Greek
text], slow bellies, as our translation renders it; but the word
[Greek text] (which is a fantastical word with two directly opposite
significations) will bear as well the translation of quick or
diligent bellies, and both interpretations may be applied to these
men.
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