of Chaospis, that runs by Susa, which was carried in bottles "Divitiæ grandes homini sunt vivere parcè, And if thou canst be content, thou hast abundance, nihil est, nihil deest, thou hast little, thou wantest nothing. 'Tis all one to be hanged in a chain of gold, or in a rope; to be filled with dainties or courser meat. "Si ventri bene, si lateri, pedibusq; tuis, nil If belly, sides and feet be well at ease, Socrates in a Fair, seeing so many things bought and sold, such a multitude of people convented to that purpose, exclaimed forthwith, "O ye gods what a sight of things doe not I want? 'Tis thy want alone that keeps thee in health of body and minde, and that which thou persecutest and abhorrest as a ferall plague, is thy physician and chiefest friend, which makes thee a good man, an healthfull, a sound, a vertuous, an honest and happy For when Vertue came from heaven (as the Poet faines) rich men kicked her up, wicked men abhorr'd her, courtiers man. • Psal. 81. f Si recte philosophemini, quicquid aptam moderationem supergreditur, oneri potius quàm usui est. Lib. 7. 16. Cereris munus & aquæ poculum mortales quærunt habere, & quorum saties nunquam est, luxus autem, sunt cætera, non epulæ. Satis est dives qui pane non indiget; nimium potens qui servire non cogitur. Ambitiosa non est fames, &c. * Euripides Menalip. O fili, mediocres divitiæ hominibus conveniunt, nimia vero moles perniciosa. ⚫ Hor. * O noctes cœnæque deûm, scoffed scoffed at her, citizens hated her, and that she was thrust ou of doors in every place, she came at last to her sister Poverty, where she had found good entertainment. Poverty and Vertue dwell together. "O vitæ tuta facultas Pauperis, angustique lares, ô munera nondum how happy art thou if thou couldst be content. "Godlinesse is a great gain, if a man can be content with that which he hath," 1 Tim. 6. 6. And all true happinesse is in a meane estate. I have a little wealth, as he said, sed quas animus magnas facit, a kingdome in conceit : « a nil amplius opto Maiâ nate, nisi ut propria hæc mihi munera faxis;" I have enough and desire no more. "+Dii bene fecerunt inopis me quodq; pusilli 'tis very well, and to my content. Vestem & fortunam con- "Stet quicunq; volet potens Aulæ culmine lubrico, Me dulcis saturet quies," let me live quiet and at ease. P Erimus fortasse (as he com * Per mille fraudes doctosq; dolos ejicitur, apud sociam paupertatem ejusq; cultores divertens in eorum sinu et tutela deliciatur. 1 Lucan. - Lip. miscell. ep. 40. "Sat. 6. lib. 2. + Hor. Sat. 4. Apuleius. § Chytreus in Europa deliciis. Accipite cives Veneti quod est optimum in rebus humanis, res humanas contemnere. O Vah, vivere etiam nunc lubet, as Demea said, Adelph. Act. 4. Quam multis non egeo, quam multa non desidero, ut Socrates in pompâ, ille in nundinis. ¶ Epictetus 77. cap. quo sum destinatus, et sequar alacriter. Puteanus ep. 62. D 2 forted forted himself) quando illi non erunt, when they are dead and gone, and all their pomp vanished, our memory may flourish: -"dant perennes Stemmata non peritura Muse." Let him be my Lord, Patron, Baron, Earl, and possesse so many goodly Castles, 'tis well for me that I have a poor house, and a little wood, and a Well by it, &c. "His me consolor victurum suavius, ac si Quæstor avus pater atq; meus, patruusq; fuissent.” I live I thank God as merrily as he, and triumph as much in this my mean estate, as if my father and uncle had been Lord Treasurer, or my Lord Major. He feeds of many dishes, I of one; qui Christum curat, non multum curat quam de preciosis cibis stercus conficiat, what care I of what stuffe my excrements be made?" He that lives according to nature, cannot be poor, and he that exceeds can never have enough," totus non sufficit orbis, the whole world cannot give him content. "A small thing that the righteous hath, is better then the riches of the ungodly," Psal. 37. 19. and better is a poor morsell with quietnesse, then abundance with strife," Prov. 17.7. Be content then, enjoy thy self, and as † Chrysostome adviseth," be not angry for what thou hast not, but give God hearty thanks for what thou hast received." J "Si dat oluscula But what wantest thou, to expostulate the matter? or what hast thou not better then a rich man? Health, competent wealth, children, securitie, sleep, friends, libertie, diet, apparell, and what not," or at least maist have (the means being so obvious, casie, and well known) for as he inculcated to himself, *Marullus. Hoc erit in votis, modus agri non ita parvus, Hortus ubi & tecto vicinus jugis aquæ fons, et paulum sylvæ, &c. Hor. Sat. 6. lib. 2. Ser. Hieronym. Seneca consil. ad Albinum c. 11. qui continet se intra natura limites, paupertatem non sentit, qui excedit, eum in opibus paupertas sequitur. Hom. 12. pro his quæ accepisti gratias age, noli indignare pro his quæ non accepisti. Nat. Chytreus deliciis Europ. Gustonii in ædibus Hubianis in cœnaculo è regione mense. Quid non habet melius pauper quã dives? vitam, valetudinem, cibum, somnum, libertatem, &c. Card. * Vitam *Vitam quæ faciunt beatiorem, I say again thou hast, or at least maist have it, if thou wilt thy self, and that which I am sure he wants, a merry heart. "Passing by a village in the territorie of Millan," saith "S. Austin, "I saw a poor begger that had got belike his belly full of meat, jesting and merry; I sighed and sail to some of my friends that were then with me, what a deal of trouble, madness, pain and grief do we sustain and exaggerate unto our selves, to get that secure happiness which this poor begger hath prevented us of, and which we peradventure shall never have? For that which he hath now attained with the begging of some small pieces of silver, a temporall happinesse, and present heart's ease, I cannot compasse with all my carefull windings, and running in and out. * And surely the begger was very merry, but I was heavy: he was secure, but I timorous. And if any man should' ask me now, whether I had rather be merry, or still so solicitous and sid, I should say, Merry. If he should ask me again, whether I had rather be as I am, or as this beggar was, I should sure choose to be as I am, tortured still with cares and fears; but out of peevishness and not out of truth." That which S. Austin said of himself here in this place, I may truly say to thee; thou discontented wretch, thou covetous niggard, thou churl, thou ambitious and swelling toad, 'tis not want but peevishness which is the cause of thy woes; settle thine affection, thou hast enough. "Deniq; sit finis quærendi, quoq; habeas plus, Make an end of scraping, purchasing this Manor, this field, that house, for this and that child; thou hast enough for thy self and them: -"+ Quod petis hîc est, Est Ulubris, animus si te non deficit æquus," 'Tis at hand, at home already, which thou so earnestly seekest. But Confess. lib. * Martial. 1. 10. epig. 47. read it out thyself in the author. 6. Transiens per vicum quendam Mediolanenscm, animadverti pauperem quendam mendicum, jam credo saturum, jocantem atq; ridentem, et ingemui et locutus sum cum amicis qui mecum erant, &c. Et certe illeætabatur, ego anxius; securus ille, ego trepidus. Et si percontarctur me quispiam an exultare mallem, an metuere, responderem, exultare: et si rursus interrogaret an ego talis essem, 'an qualis nunc sum, me ipsis curis confectum eligerem; sed perversitate, non veritate. + Hor. ep. lib. 1. y Hor. "O si angulus ille Proximus accedat, qui nunc denormat agellum," O that I had but that one nook of ground, that field there, that pasture, "O si venam argenti fors quis mihi monstret” O that I could but finde a pot of mony now, to purchase, &c. to build me a new house, to marry my daughter, place my son, &c. “O if I might but live a while longer to see all things setled, some two or three year, I would pay my debts," make all my reckonings even; but they are come and past, and thou hast more businesse then before. "O madness to think to settle that in thine old age when thou hast more, which in thy youth thou canst not now compose having but a little." * Pyrrhus would first conquer Africk, and then Asia, & tum suaviter agere, and then live merrily and take his ease: but when Cyneas the Orator told him he might do that already, id jam posse fieri, rested satisfied, condemning his own folly. Si parva licet componere magnis, thou maist do the like, and therefore be composed in thy fortune. Thou hast enough; he that is wet in a bath, can be no more wet if he be flung into Tiber, or into the Ocean it self; and if thou hadst all the world, or a solid masse of gold as big as the world, thou canst not have more then enough; enjoy thy self at length, and that which thou hast; the mind is all; be content, thou art not poor, but rich, and so much the richer, as †Censorinus well writ to Cerellius, quanto pauciora optas, non quo plura possides, in wishing less, not having more. I say then Non adjice opes, sed minue cupiditates ('tis Epicurus' advice) adde no more wealth, but diminish thy desires, and as Chrysostome well seconds him, Si vis ditari, contemne divitias; that's true plenty, not to have, but not to want riches, non habere, sed non indigere, vera abundantia; 'tis more glory to contemne, then to possesse; & nihil egere, est deorum. How many deaf, dumb, halt, lame, blinde, miserable persons could I reckon up that are poor, and withall distressed, in imprisonment, banishment, gally-slaves, condemned to the mines, quarries, to gyves, in dungeons, perpetuall thraldome, then all which thou art richer, O si nunc morerer, inquit, quanta et qualia mihi imperfecta manerent: sed si mensibus decem vel octo super vixero, omnia redigam ad libellum, ab omni debito creditoq; me explicabo; prætereunt interim menses decem, et octo, et cum illis anni, et adhuc restant plura quam prius; quid igitur speras. O insane, finem quem rebus tuis non inveneras in juventa, in senecta impositurum? O dementiam, quum ob curas et negotia tuo judicio sis infelix, quid putas futurum quum plura supererint? Cardan, lib. 8. cap. 40. de rer. var. † Lib. de natali, cap. 1. Apud Stobeum ser. 17, *Plutarch. Hom. 12. in 2 thou |