I am hungry and thirsty,
like him, but when thirst and hunger cease, I am not at rest. I
am, like him, pained with want, but am not, like him, satisfied
with fulness. The intermediate hours are tedious and gloomy; I
long again to be hungry that I may again quicken the attention.
The birds peck the berries or the corn, and fly away to the groves,
where they sit in seeming happiness on the branches, and waste
their lives in tuning one unvaried series of sounds. I likewise
can call the lutist and the singer; but the sounds that pleased me
yesterday weary me to-day, and will grow yet more wearisome to-
morrow. I can discover in me no power of perception which is not
glutted with its proper pleasure, yet I do not feel myself
delighted. Man surely has some latent sense for which this place
affords no gratification; or he has some desire distinct from
sense, which must be satisfied before he can be happy."
After this he lifted up his head, and seeing the moon rising,
walked towards the palace. As he passed through the fields, and
saw the animals around him, "Ye," said he, "are happy, and need not
envy me that walk thus among you, burdened with myself; nor do I,
ye gentle beings, envy your felicity; for it is not the felicity of
man.
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