Philosophy does not do battle against such pleasures as are natural, provided that temperance accompanies them; she teaches moderation in such things not avoidance.
[La philosophie n’estrive point contre les voluptez naturelles, pourveu que la mesure y soit joincte : & en presche la moderation, non la fuitte.]
Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592) French essayist
Essay (1586), “On some Lines of Virgil [Sur des vers de Virgile], Essays, Book 3, ch. 5 (3.5) (1595) [tr. Screech (1987)]
Sourcing, notes, other translations: wist.info/montaigne-michel-de/…
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