Page 235 - les-miserables

of Amphiaraus and the baldness of Caesar. There must be a
limit, even to rebuses. Est modus in rebus.
‘There must be a limit, even to dinners. You are fond of
apple turnovers, ladies; do not indulge in them to excess.
Even in the matter of turnovers, good sense and art are
requisite. Gluttony chastises the glutton, Gula punit Gu-
lax. Indigestion is charged by the good God with preaching
morality to stomachs. And remember this: each one of our
passions, even love, has a stomach which must not be filled
too full. In all things the word finis must be written in good
season; self-control must be exercised when the matter be-
comes urgent; the bolt must be drawn on appetite; one must
set one’s own fantasy to the violin, and carry one’s self to the
post. The sage is the man who knows how, at a given mo-
ment, to effect his own arrest. Have some confidence in me,
for I have succeeded to some extent in my study of the law,
according to the verdict of my examinations, for I know the
difference between the question put and the question pend-
ing, for I have sustained a thesis in Latin upon the manner
in which torture was administered at Rome at the epoch
when Munatius Demens was quaestor of the Parricide; be-
cause I am going to be a doctor, apparently it does not follow
that it is absolutely necessary that I should be an imbecile.
I recommend you to moderation in your desires. It is true
that my name is Felix Tholomyes; I speak well. Happy is he
who, when the hour strikes, takes a heroic resolve, and ab-
dicates like Sylla or Origenes.’
Favourite listened with profound attention.
‘Felix,’ said she, ‘what a pretty word! I love that name. It

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