Thursday, July 16, 2009

On vacation

“How perillous vacancie from affaires hath ever bene, may appeare by ancient and moderne examples, whose Tragicall catastrophe wold crave teares immix’d with lines. Let this suffice, there is no one motive more effectually moving, no Rhetoricke more movingly perswading, no Oratorie more perswasively inducing, then what we daily feele or apprehend in our selves. Where every houre not well employed, begets some argument or other to move our corrupt natures to be depraved. Let us then admit of no vacation, save onely vacation from vice. Our lives are too short to be fruitlessly employed, or remissly passed.”—Richard Brathwait, Natures Embassie (1621).

A Commonplace Blog will be on vacation until Thursday, July 23rd.

1 comments:

R/T said...

If you are strictly following Brathwait's advice ("Let us then admit of no vacation, save onely vacation from vice"), then I suppose you must try to enjoy your "vacation from vice," though I would instead urge you to enjoy yourself by carelessly indulging in at least some small innocent vices and invigorating pleasures along the way as you head down the road in your own version of Airstream and station wagon (as depicted in the photo).