The Manual of Xefolius

THE MANUAL

disposed, or is it rather a state of the SOUL?

Matter gravitates toward its origin, seeking rest; but the spirit rises, leaping into the infinite, and everything that confines it causes it pain. I see a physical world, and I feel a moral world: but I observe that the more man enriches himself with perishable objects, and the more he extends his fleeting existence, the more he starves himself with needs. What then is this law of our being which drives us toward the vastness of the infinite, and which nothing here below can satisfy?

V.

I HAVE seen youth burning with desires; I have seen middle age devoured by ambition; I have seen infirm old age, still cradling itself with fanciful projects, drawing its last breath with its eyes fixed upon a rattle The "rattle" (hochet) is a recurring Enlightenment metaphor for the trivialities, honors, and titles that adults pursue, comparing them to infants distracted by toys. from which it hoped for happiness; while the innocent lamb, following laws it cannot violate, lives in profound peace.

I have studied the great ones of the earth; they are bursting with possessions, sorrows, desires, ambition, and boredom: they are like dropsical men original: hydropiques. Dropsy (edema) was a common medical metaphor in the 18th century for greed; just as the ailment makes one swell with fluid yet remain thirsty, the ambitious man acquires more yet remains unsatisfied. who die of thirst.

I heard the sybarite A person devoted to luxury and pleasure, named after the ancient Greek city of Sybaris, known for its decadence. calling for happiness—