صور الصفحة
PDF
النشر الإلكتروني

diores asinis, ut è brutis planè natos dicas: no learning, no knowledg, no civility, scarce common sense, nought but barbarism amongst them, belluino more vivunt, neq; calceos gestant, neq; vestes, like rogues and vagabonds, they go barefooted and bare-legged, the soals of their feet being as hard as horse hoofs, as Radzivilus observed at Damiata in Egypt, leading a laborious, miserable, wretched, unhappy life, "like beasts and juments, if not worse:" (for a † Spaniard in Incatan, sold three Indian boyes for a Cheese, and an hundred Negro slaves for an horse) their discourse is scurrility, their summum bonum, a pot of Ale. There is not any slavery which these villains will not undergo, Inter illos pleriq; latrinas evacuant, alii culinariam curant, alii stabularios agunt, urinatores, & id genus similia exercent, &c. like those people that dwell in the Alps, Chimney-sweepers, Jakes-fermers, Dirt-daubers, Vagrant rogues, they labour hard some, and yet cannot get clothes to put on, or bread to eat. For what can filthy poverty give else, but I beggery, fulsom nastiness, squalor, contempt, drudgery, labor, ugliness, hunger and thirst: pediculorum, & pulicum numerum? as he well followed it in Aristophanes, fleas and lice, pro pallio vestem laceram, & pro pulvinari lapidem benè magnum ad caput, rags for his rayment, and a stone for his pillow, pro cathedra, rupte caput urna, he sits in a broken pitcher, or on a block for a chair, & maluæ ramos pro panibus comedit, he drinks water, and lives on wort leaves, pulse, like a hogg, or scraps like a dog, ut nunc nobis vita afficitur, quis non putabit insaniam esse, infelicitatemq;? as Chremilus concludes his speech, as we poor men live now adayes, who will not take our life to be infelicity, misery, and madness?

a

If they be of little better condition than those basè villains, hunger-starved beggars, wandring rogues, those ordinary slaves, and day-labouring drudges; yet they are commonly so preyed upon by poling officers for breaking laws, by their tyrannizing Land-lords, so flead and fleeced by perpetuall exactions, that though they do drudge, fare hard, and starve their Genius, they cannot live in some countries; but what they

b

*Peregrin. Hieros. "Nihil omnino meliorem vitam degunt, quam feræ in silvis, jumenta in terris. Leo Afer, + Bartholomeus a Casa. * Ortelius in Helvetia. Qui habitant in Casia valle ut plurimùm latomi, in Oscella valle cultroru fabri fumarii, in Vigetia sordidum genus hominum, quod repurgandis caminis victum parat. I write not this any ways to upbraid, or scoffe at, or misuse poor men, but rather to condole and pity them, by expressing, &c.. y Chremilus Act. 4. Plaut. * Paupertas durum onus miseris mortalibus. Vexat censura columbas. b Deux ace non possunt, & sixcinq. solvere noJunt: Omnibus est notum quater tre solvere totum. Scandia, Africa, Lituania,

.

[blocks in formation]

d

have is instantly taken from them, the very care they take to live, to be drudges, to maintain their poor families, their trouble and anxiety "takes away their sleep," Sirac. 31. 1. it makes them weary of their lives: when they have taken all pains, done their utmost and honest endeavors, if they be cast behinde by sicknesse, or over-taken with years, no man pities them, hard-hearted and mercilesse, uncharitable as they are, they leave them so distressed, to beg, steal, murmur and rebell, or else starve. The feeling and feare of this miserie compelled those old Romanes, whom Menenius Agrippa pacified, to resist their governours: outlaws, and rebels in most places, to take up seditious armes, and in all ages hath caused uproares, murmurings, seditions, rebellions, thefts, murders, mutinies, jarres and contentions in every common-wealth: grudging, repining, complaining, discontent in each private family, because they want meanes to live according to their callings, bring up their children, it breakes their hearts, they cannot do as they would. No greater misery then for a Lord to have a Knight's living, a Gentleman a Yeoman's, not to be able to live as his birth and place requires. Poverty and want are generally corrosives to all kind of men, especially to such as have been in good and flourishing estate, are suddenly distressed, nobly born, liberally brought up, and by some disaster and casualty, miserably dejected. For the rest, as they have base fortunes, so have they base mindes correspondent, like Beetles, è stercore orti, è stercore victus, in stercore delicium, as they were obscurely born and bred, so they delight in obscenity; they are not so thoroughly touched with it.

Angustas animas angusto in pectore versant."

Yea, that which is no small cause of their torments, if once they come to be in distress, they are forsaken of their fellows, most part neglected, and left unto themselves; as poor * Terence in Rome was by Scipio, Lælius, and Furius, his great and noble friends.

"Nil Publius Scipio profuit, nil ei Lælius, nil Furius,
Tres per idem tempus qui agitabant nobiles facillime,
Horum ille operâ ne domum quidem habuit conductitiam."

'Tis generally so, Tempora si fuerint nubila, solus eris, he is left cold and comfortless, nullus ad amissas ibit amicus opes, all flee from him as from a rotten wall, now ready to fall

Montaign, in his Essayes, speaks of certain Indiansfin France, that being asked how they liked the country, wondred how a few rich men could keep sa many poor men in subjection, that they did not cut their throats. animas animoso in pectore versans, * Donatus vit. ejus.

Augustas

on

on their heads. Prov. 19. 4. "Poverty separates them from their neighbours."

«* Dum fortuna favet, vultum servatis amici,
Cùm cecidit, turpi vertitis ora fugâ."

Whil'st fortune favor'd, friends, you smil'd on me,
But when she fled, a friend I could not see.

Which is worse yet, if he be poor every man contemns him, insults over him, oppresseth him, scoffs at, aggravates his misery.

❝h Quum cæpit quassata domus subsidere, partes
In proclinatas omne recumbit onus."

When once the tottering house begins to shrink,
Thither comes all the weight by an instinct.

m

Nay they are odious to their own brethren, and dearest friends, Pro. 19. 7. His brethren hate him if he be poor," i omnes vicini oderunt, "his neighbours hate him," Pro. 14. 20. *omnes me noti ac ignoti deserunt, as he complained in the Comedy, friends and strangers, all forsake me. Which is most grievous, poverty makes men ridiculous, Nil habet infelix paupertas durius in se, Quam quod ridiculos homines facit, they must endure 'jests, taunts, flouts, blowes of their betters, and take all in good part to get a meale's meat: magnum pauperies opprobrium, jubet quidvis & facere & pati. He must turn Parasite, jester, fool, cum desipientibus desipere; saith Euripides, slave, villain, drudge to get a poor living, apply himself to each man's humors, to win and please, &c. and be buffeted, when he hath all done, as Ulysses was by Melanthius in Homer, be reviled, bafled, insulted over, for potentiorum stultitia perferenda est, and may not so much as mutter against it. He must turn rogue, and villain; for as the saying is, Necessitas cogit ad turpia, poverty alone makes men theeves, rebels, murderers, traitors, assacinates, "because of poverty we have sinned," Ecclus. 27. 1. swear and forswear, bear false witness, lye, dissemble, any thing, as I say, to advantage themselves, and to relieve their necessities: • Culpe scelerisque magistra est, when a man is driven to his shifts, what will he not do?

"si miserum fortuna Sionem

Finxit, vanum etiam mendacemq; improba finget."

'Prov. 19. 7. though he be instant yet they will not.

*Petronius.

*Ter. Eunuchus act. 2.

est qui doleat vicem, ut Petrus Christum, jurant sc hominem non
hOvid. in Trist.
materiam præbet causamque jocandi: Si toga sordida sit, Juv. Sat. 2.

† In Phænis.

¡Horat.

[blocks in formation]

& Non novisse. Quid quod

m Hor.

he

he will betray his father, prince, and countrey, turn Turk, forsake Religion, abjure God and all, nulla tam horrenda proditio, quam illi lucri causa (saith Leo Afer) perpetrare nolint. Plato therefore cals poverty, "theevish, sacrilegious, filthy, wicked and mischievous:" and well he might. For it makes many an upright man otherwise, had he not been in want, to take bribes, to be corrupt, to do against his conscience, to sell his tongue, heart, hand, &c. to be churlish, hard, unmerciful, uncivil, to use indirect means to help his present estate. It makes Princes to exact upon their subjects, Great men tyrannize, Landlords oppress, Justice mercenary, Lawyers vultures, Physicians Harpyes, friends importunate, tradesmen lyars, honest men theeves, devout assacinates, great men to prostitute their wives, daughters and themselves, middle sort to repine, commons to mutiny, all to grudge, murmer and complain. A great temptation to all mischief, it compels some miserable wretches to counterfeit several diseases, to dismember, make themselves blinde, lame, to have a more plausible cause to beg, and lose their limbs to recover their present wants. Jodocus Damhoderius a Lawyer of Bruges, praxi rerum criminal. c. 112. hath some notable examples of such counterfeit Cranks, and every village almost will yeeld abundant testimonies amongst us; we have Dummerers, Ábra, ham men, &c. And that which is the extent of misery, it enforceth them through anguish and wearisomness of their lives, to make away themselves: They had rather be hanged, drown ed, &c. then to live without means.

"In mare cætiferum, ne te premat aspera egestas,
Desili, & à celsis corrue Cerne jugis.'

[ocr errors]

Much better 'tis to break thy neck,

Or drowne thyself i'th' Sea,

Then suffer irksome poverty;
Goe make thyself away.

A Sybarite of old, as I finde it registred in +Athenæus, supping in Phiditiis in Sparta, and observing their hard fare, said it was no marvel if the Lacedæmonians were valiant men; "for his part he would rather run upon a sword point (and so would any man in his wits) then live with such base diet, or lead so wretched a life." In Japonia 'tis a common thing to stifle their children if they be poor, or to make an abort, which

P De Africa lib. 1. cap. ult.

+ Dip

*4. de legibus. furacissima paupertas, sa-
a Theognis.
mente constaret) quam
Gasper Vilela Jesuita

crilega, turpis, flagitiosa, omnium malorum opifex. nosophist lib. 12. Millies potius moriturum (si quis sibi tam vilis & ærumnoşi victus communionem habere. epist. Japon. lib.

[ocr errors]

Aristotle

t

Aristotle commends. In that civil commonwealth of China, the mother strangles her childe, if she be not able to bring it up, and had rather lose, then sell it, or have it endure such misery as poor men do. Arnobius lib. 7. adversus gentes, * Lactantius lib. 5. cap. 9. objects as much to those ancient Greeks and Romans, "they did expose their children to wilde beasts, strangle, or knock out their brains against a stone, in such cases." If we may give credit to † Munster, amongst us Christians in Lituania, they voluntarily mancipate, and sell themselves, their wives and children to rich men, to avoid hunger and beggery; many make away themselves in this extremity. Apicius the Roman, when he cast up his accounts, and found but 100000 Crownes left, murdered himself for fear he should be famished to death. P. Forestus in his medicinal observations, hath a memorable example, of two brothers of Lovain, that, being destitute of means, became both melancholy, and in a discontented humor massacred themselves. Another of a merchant, learned, wise otherwise and discreet, but out of a deep apprehension he had of a loss at Seas, would not be perswaded but as "Ventidius in the Poet, he should die a begger. In a word thus much I may conclude of poor men, that though they have good parts, they cannot shew or make use of them: ab inopiù ad virtutem obsepta est via, 'tis hard for a poor man to rise, haud facilè emergunt, quorum virtutibus obstat res angusta domi: "the wisdom of the poor is despised, and his words are not heard." Eccles. 6. 19. his works are rejected, contemned, for the baseness and obscurity of the author, though laudable and good in themselves, they will not likely take.

X

Nulla placere diù, neque vivere carmina possunt,
Quæ scribuntur aquæ potoribus."

Poor men cannot please, their actions, counsels, consultations, projects, are vilified in the world's esteem, amittunt consilium in re, which Gnatho long since observed. Sapiens crepidas sibi nunquam nec soleas fecit, a wise man never cobled shoes; as he said of old, but how doth he prove it? I am sure we finde it otherwise in our daies, a pruinosis horret facundia pannis, Homer himself must beg if he want means, and as by

• Mat. Riccius expedit. in Sinas lib. 1. c. 3. *Vos Romani procreatos filios feris & canibus exponitis, nunc strangulatis vel in saxum eliditis, &c. + Cosmog. 4. lib. cap. 22. vendumt liberos victu carentes tanquâ pecora interdum & seipsos; ut apud divites saturentur cibis. Vel honorum desperatione vel malorum perpessione fracti & fatigati, plures violentas manus sibi inferunt. * Hor. * Ingenio poteram superas volitare per arces; Ut me pluma levat, sic grave mergit onus. y Terent. • Petronius,

* Hor. Sat. 3. lib. 1.

Paschalius.

report

« السابقةمتابعة »