Page:The Art of Preserving Health - A Poem in Four Books.djvu/80

But some one part is weaker than the rest:
The legs, perhaps, or arms refuse their load,
175Or the chest labours. These assiduously,
But gently, in their proper arts employ'd,
Acquire a vigor and elastic spring
To which they were not born. But weaker parts
Abhor fatigue and violent discipline.
 
180Begin with gentle toils; and, as your nerves
Grow firm, to hardier by just steps aspire.
The prudent, even in every moderate walk,
At first but saunter, and by flow degrees
Increase their pace. This doctrine of the wife
185Well knows the master of the flying steed.
First from the goal the manag'd coursers play
On bended reins; as yet the skilful youth
Repress their foamy pride; but every breath
The race grows warmer, and the tempest swells;