to boot (which by and by, the ox being dead, fell out), the body may say to the soul, that will give him no respite or remission:  a little after, an ague, vertigo, consumption, seizeth on them both, all his study is omitted, and they must be compelled to be sick together:”  he that tenders his own good estate, and health, must let them draw with equal yoke, both alike, [3375] “that so they may happily enjoy their wished health.”

MEMB.  V.
Waking and terrible Dreams rectified.

As waking that hurts, by all means must be avoided, so sleep, which so much helps, by like ways, [3376]"must be procured, by nature or art, inward or outward medicines, and be protracted longer than ordinary, if it may be, as being an especial help.”  It moistens and fattens the body, concocts, and helps digestion (as we see in dormice, and those Alpine mice that sleep all winter), which Gesner speaks of, when they are so found sleeping under the snow in the dead of winter, as fat as butter.  It expels cares, pacifies the mind, refresheth the weary limbs after long work: 

[3377]Somne quies rerum, placidissime somne deorum,
        Pax animi, quem cura fugit, qui corpora duris
        Fessa ministeriis mulces reparasque labori.”

       “Sleep, rest of things, O pleasing deity,
        Peace of the soul, which cares dost crucify,
        Weary bodies refresh and mollify.”

The chiefest thing in all physic, [3378]Paracelsus calls it, omnia arcana gemmarum superans et metallorum.  The fittest time is [3379]"two or three hours after supper, when as the meat is now settled at the bottom of the stomach, and ’tis good to lie on the right side first, because at that site the liver doth rest under the stomach, not molesting any way, but heating him as a fire doth a kettle, that is put to it.  After the first sleep ’tis not amiss to lie on the left side, that the meat may the better descend;” and sometimes again on the belly, but never on the back.  Seven or eight hours is a competent time for a melancholy man to rest, as Crato thinks; but as some do, to lie in bed and not sleep, a day, or half a day together, to give assent to pleasing conceits and vain imaginations, is many ways pernicious.  To procure this sweet moistening sleep, it’s best to take away the occasions (if it be possible) that hinder it, and then to use such inward or outward remedies, which may cause it. Constat hodie (saith Boissardus in his tract de magia, cap. 4.) multos ita fascinari ut noctes integras exigant insomnes, summa, inquietudine animorum et corporum; many cannot sleep for witches and fascinations, which are too familiar in some places; they call it, dare alicui malam noctem.  But the ordinary causes are heat and dryness, which must first be removed:  [3380]a hot and dry brain never sleeps well:  grief, fears, cares, expectations, anxieties, great businesses, [3381]_In aurum utramque otiose ut dormias_,