Some wine was offered us, which appeared to me to be neither
more nor less than vinegar; and, what added to my surprise, a bottle,
which they said was not yet fit to drink, seemed to me to be pretty good,
the Brahmin having passed it to me for my judgment, as soon as they
pronounced upon it sentence of condemnation.
After we arose from this strange scene, and had withdrawn to our chamber,
I expressed my surprise to my companion at this contrariety in the tastes
of the Terrestrials and Lunarians: whereupon he told me, that the
difference was rather apparent than real.
"These people," said he, "belong to a sect of Ascetics in this country,
who are persuaded that all pleasure received through the senses is sinful,
and that man never appears so acceptable in the sight of the Deity, as
when he rejects all the delicacies of the palate, as well as other
sensual gratifications, and imposes on himself that food to which he
feels naturally most repugnant. You may see that those peaches, which
were so disdainfully thrown into the yard, are often secretly picked up
by the children, who obey the impulses of nature, and devour them most
greedily. Even in the old people themselves, there is occasionally some
backsliding into the depravity of worldly appetite. You might have
perceived, that while the old man was abusing the wine you drank as
unripe, and making wry faces at it, he still kept tasting it; and if I
had not reached it to you, he would probably, before he had ceased his
meditations, have finished half the bottle.
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