cane pejus & angue, we abhor the name of it, * Paupertas fugitur, totoq; arcessitur orbe, as being the fountain of all other miseries, cares, woes, labours, and grievances whatsoever. To avoid which, we will take any pains,-extremos currit mercator ad Indos, we will leave no haven, no coast, no creek of the world unsearched, though it be to the hazard of our lives, we will dive to the bottome of the sea, to the bowels of the earth, † five, six, seven, eight, nine hundred fathome deep, through all five Zones, and both extremes of heat and cold we will turn parasites and slaves, prostitute our selves, swear and lye, damn our bodies and souls, forsake God, abjure Religion, steal, rob, murder, rather than endure this unsufferable yoke of Poverty, which doth so tyrannize, crucifie, and generally depress us. For look into the world, and you shall see men most part esteemed according to their means, and happy as they are rich: Ubiq; tanti quisq; quantum habuit fuit. If he be likely to thrive, and in the way of preferment, who but he? In the 'vulgar opinion, if a man be wealthy, no matter how he gets it, of what parentage, how qualified, how vertuously endowed, or villanously inclined; let him be a bawd, a gripe, an usurer, a villain, a Pagan, a Barbarian, a wretch §, Lucian's tyrant, "on whom you may look with lesse security, then on the Sun: so that he be rich (and liberall withall) he shall be honoured, admired, adored, reverenced, and highly magnified. "The rich is had in reputation because of his goods," Eccl. 10. 31. He shall be befriended: "for, riches gather many friends, Prov. 19. 4.-multos numerabit amicos, all happinesse ebbs and flows with his mony. He shall be accounted a gratious Lord, a Mecænas, a benefactor, a wise, discreet, a proper, a valiant, a fortunate man, of a generous spirit, Pullus Jovis, & gallinæ filius albæ : a hopeful, a good man, a vertuous, honest man. Quando ego te Junonium pueri, & matris partum verè aureum, as Tully said of Octavianus, while he was adopted Cæsar, and an heir apparent of so great a Monarchy, he was a golden child. All honor, offices, applause, grand titles, and turgent Epithets are put upon him, omnes omnia bona dicere; all men's eyes r *Lucan. 1. 1. +As in the silver mines at Friburgh in Germany. Fines Mo. rison. Euripides. Tom. 4. dial. minore periculo Solem quam hunc defixis oculis licet intueri. P Omnis enim res, virtus, fama, decus, divina, humanaq; pulchris Divitiis parent. Hor. Ser. 1. 2. Sat. 3. Clarus eris, fortis justus, sapiens, etiam rex. Et quicquid volet. Hor. regina pecunia donat. Money adds spirits, courage, &c. ticum. Et genus, & formam, Epist. ult. ad At Our young Master, a fine towardly gentleman, God bless him, and hopefull; why? he is heir apparent to the right worshipfull, to the right honcurable, &c. O nummi, nummi: vobis bune præstat honorem. are are upon him, God bless his good worship, his honour; "every man speaks wel of him, every man presents him, seeks and sues to him for his love, favour, and protection, to serve him, belong unto him, every man riseth to him, as to Themistocles in the Olympicks, if he speak, as of Herod, Vox Dei, non hominis, the voyce of God, not of man. All the graces, Veneres, pleasures, elegances attend him, * golden Fortune accompanies and lodgeth with him; and as to those Roman Emperours, is placed in his chamber. ―y Securâ naviget aurâ, Fortunamq; suo temperet arbitrio:" he may sayl as he will himself, and temper his estate at his pleasure, Joviall dayes, splendor and magnificence, sweet Musick, dainty fare, the good things, and fat of the land, fine clothes, rich attires, soft beds, down pillows are at his command, all the world labours for him, thousands of Artificers are his slaves to drudge for him, run, ride, and post for him: * Divines (for Pythia Philippisat) Lawyers, Physitians, Philosophers, Scholars are his, wholly devote to his service. Every man seeks his acquaintance, his kindred, to match with him, though he be an aufe, a ninny, a monster, a gooscap, uxorem ducat Danaen, when, and whom he will, hunc optant generum Rex & Regina-he is an excellent a match for my son, my daughter, my niece, &c. Quicquid calcaverit hic, Rosa fiet, let him go whither he will, Trumpets sound, Bels ring, &c. all happiness attends him, every man is willing to entertain him, he sups in Apollo wheresoever he comes; what preparation is made for his entertainment? fish and fowl, spices and perfumes, all that sea and land affords. What cookery, masking, mirth to exhilarate his person? ❝d Da Trebio, pone ad Trebium, vis frater ab illis What dish will your good worship eat of? " + dulcia poma, Et quoscunq; feret cultus tibi fundus honores, Before thy Gods be serv'd, let serve thy Lord. "Exinde sapere eum omnes dicimus, ac quisq; fortunam habet. Plaut. Pseud. * Aurea fortuna, principum cubiculis reponi solita. Julius Capitolinus vita Antonini. y Petronius. *Theologi opulentis adhærent, Jurisperiti pecuniosis, literati nummosis, liberalibus artifices. * Multi illum juvenes, multæ petiere puellæ. Dummodo sit dives barbarus, ille placet. Plut. in Lucullo, a rich chamber so called. lib. 2. d Panis pane melior. ❝ Juv. Sat. 5. + Hor. Sat. 5. VOL. I. A a What e What sport will your honour have? hawking, hunting, fishing, fowling, buls, bears, cards, dice, cocks, players, tumblers, fidlers, jesters, &c. they are at your good worship's command. Fair houses, gardens, orchards, tarrasses, galleries, cabinets, pleasant walks, delightsom places, they are at hand; in aureis lac, vinum in argenteis, adolescentulæ ad nutum speciose, wine, wenches, &c. a Turkie Paradise, an heaven upon earth. Though he be a silly soft fellow, and scarce have common sense, yet if he be born to fortunes (as I have said) jure hæreditario sapere jubetur, he must have honor and office in his course; Nemo nisi dives honore dignus (Ambros. offic. 21.) none so worthy as himself: He shall have it, atq; esto quicquid Servius aut Labeo. Get mony enough and command* Kingdoms, Provinces, Armies, Hearts, Hands, and Affections; thou shalt have Popes, Patriarks to be thy Chaplains and Parasites; thou shalt have (Tamberlin-like) Kings to draw thy Coach, Queens to be thy Landresses, Emperours thy foot-stools, build more towns and Cities then great Alexander, Babel Towers, Pyramides and Mausolean Tombs, &c. command heaven and earth, and tell the world it is thy vassel, auro emitur diadema, argento cælum panditur, denarius Philosophum conducit, nummus jus cogit, obulus literatum pascit, metallum sanitatem conciliat, as amicos conglutinat. And therefore not without good cause, John Medices that rich Florentine, when he lay upon his death bed, calling his sons, Cosmus and Laurence before him, amongst other sober sayings, repeated this, Animo quieto digredior, quod vos sanos & divites post me relinquam, "It doth me good to think yet, though I be dying, that I shal leave you my children, Sound and Rich:" For wealth sways all. It is not with us, as amongst those Lacedemonian Senators of Lycurgus in Plutarch, "He preferred that deserved best, was most virtuous and worthy of the place, not swiftness, or strength, or wealth, or friends carryed it in those days;" but inter optimos optimus, inter temperantes temperantissimus, the most temperate and best. We have no Aristocracies but in contemplation, all Oligarchies, wherein a few rich men domineer, do what they list, and are priviledged by their greatness. They may freely trespasse, and do as they please, no man dare accuse them, no not so much as mutter against them, there is no notice taken of it, they may securely do it, live after their own lawes, and for Bohemus de Turcis & Bredenbach. Euphormio. 8 Qui pecuniam habent, elati sunt animis, lofty spirits, brave men at arms, all rich men are generous, courageous, &c. *Nummus ait pro me nubat Cornubia Romæ. Non fuit apud mortales allum excellentius certamen, non inter celeres celerrimo, non inter robustos robustissimo, &c. Quicquid libet licet, their money get pardons, indulgences, redeem their souls from Purgatory and Hell it self,clausum possidet arca Jovem. Let them be Epicures, or Atheists, Libertines, Machiavilians, (as often they are) "* Et quamvis perjuris erit, sine gente, cruentus," they may go to heaven through the eye of a needle, if they will themselves, they may be canonized for Saints, they shall be * honorably interred in Mausolean tombs, commended by Poets, registred in histories, have temples and statues erected to their names,è manibus iilis-nascentur viole.If he be bountifull in his life, and liberall at his death, he shall have one to. sweare, as he did by Claudius the Emperour in Tacitus, he saw his soul go to Heaven, and be miserably lamented at his funeral. Ambubaiarum collegia, &c. Trimalcionis topanta in Petronius rectà in cælu abiit, went right to Heaven: a base quean, "Ithou wouldest have scorned once in thy misery to have a penny from her;" and why? modio nummos metiit, she measured her mony by the bushell. These prerogatives do not usually belong to rich men, but to such as are most part seeming rich, let him have but a good outside, he carries it, and shall be adored for a God, as Cyrus was amongst the Persians, ob splendidum apparatum, for his gay tyres; now most men are esteemed according to their cloathes. In our gullish times, whom you peradventure in modesty would give place to, as being deceived by his habit, and presuming him some great worshipful inan, beleeve it, if you shall examin his estate, he will likely be proved a serving man of no great note, my Ladies Taylor, his Lordship's Barber, or some such gull, a Fastidius Brisk, Sir Petronell Flash, a meer outside. Only this respect is given him, that wheresoever he comes, he may call for what he will, and take place by reason of his outward habit. m But on the contrary, if he be poor. Prov. 15. 15. "all his days are miserable," he is under hatches, dejected, rejected and forsaken, poor in purse, poor in spirit; prout res nobis fluit, ita & animus se habet; Mony gives life and soul. Though he be honest, wise, learned, well deserving, noble by birth, and of excellent good parts: yet in that he is poor, unlikely to rise, come to honour, office or good means, he is contemned, neglected, Frustra sapit, inter literas esurit, amicus moles Hor. Sat. 5. lib. 2. peris ad funus vix est ex millibus unus. k Cum moritur dives concurrunt undiq; cives: Pau- nius tuus, noluisses de manu ejus nummos accipere. + Euripides. tus. "If he speak, what babler is this?" Ecclus. his nobility without wealth, is projecta vilior alga, and he not esteemed: Nos viles pulli nati infelicibus ovis, if once poor, we are metamorphosed in an instant, base slaves, villains and vile drudges; *for to be poor, is to be a knave, a foole, a wretch, a wicked, an odious fellow, a common eye-sore, say poor and say all: they are borne to labour, to misery, to carry burdens like juments, pistum stercus comedere with Ulysses companions, and as Chremilus objected in Aristophanes, † salem lingere, lick salt, to empty jakes, fay channels, Pcarry out dirt and dunghils, sweep chimnies, rub horse heels, &c. I say nothing of Turks Gally-slaves, which are bought and sold like juments, or those African Negroes, or poor § Indian drudges, Qui indies hinc inde deferendis oneribus occumbunt, nam quod apud nos boves & asini vehunt, trahunt, &c. Id omne misellis Indis, they are ugly to behold, and though earst spruce, now rusty and squalid, because poor, immundas fortunas æquum est squalorem sequi, it is ordinarily so. "q Others eat to live, but they live to drudge," ** servilis & misera gens nihil recusare audet, a servile generation, that dare refuse no task. "++ Heus tu Dromo, cape hoc flabellum, ventulum hinc facito dum lavamus," Sirrah blow winde upon us while we wash, and bid your fellow get him up betimes in the morning, be it fair or foul, he shall run 50 miles a foot to morrow, to carry me a Letter to my mistres, Socia ad pistrinam, Socia shall tarry at home and grinde mault all day long, Tristan thresh. Thus are they commanded, being indeed some of them as so many footstools for rich men to tread on, blocks for them to get on horse back, or as "wals for them to piss on." They are commonly such people, rude, silly, superstitious Ideots, nasty, unclean, lowsy, poor, dejected, slavishly humble: and as Leo Afer observes of the commonalty of Africk, naturâ viliores sunt, nec apud suos duces majoré in precio quàm si canes essent: 'base by nature, and no more esteemed than dogs, miseram, laboriosam, calamitosam vitam agunt, & inopem, infalicem, ru In tenui rara est facundia panno. Juv. dere, & indigere scelestum essc, Sat. Menip. • Hor. *Egere est offen+ Plaut. act. 4. P Nullum tam barbarum, tam vile munus est, quod non lubentissime obire velit gens vilissima. Lausius orat. in Hispaniam. Laet. descrip. Ame4 Leo Afer ca. ult. 1. 1. edunt non ut bene vivant, Heinsius. ** Munster de rusticis Germaniæ, Cos ricæ, Plautus. sed ut fortiter laborent. mog. cap. 27. lib. 3. caniculæ commingant. + Ter. Eunuch. Pauper paries factus, quem 'Deos omnes illis infensos diceres: tam pannosi, famefracti, tot assidue malis afficiuntur, tanquam pecora quibus splendor rationis emortuus. |