doth beauty love: virtue and honesty are great motives, and give as
fair a lustre as the rest, especially if they be sincere and right, not
fucate, but proceeding from true form, and an incorrupt judgment; those
two Venus' twins, Eros and Anteros, are then most firm and fast. For
many times otherwise men are deceived by their flattering gnathos,
dissembling camelions, outsides, hypocrites that make a show of great
love, learning, pretend honesty, virtue, zeal, modesty, with affected
looks and counterfeit gestures: feigned protestations often steal away
the hearts and favours of men, and deceive them, specie virtutis et
umbra, when as revera and indeed, there is no worth or honesty at all
in them, no truth, but mere hypocrisy, subtlety, knavery, and the like.
As true friends they are, as he that Caelius Secundus met by the
highway side; and hard it is in this temporising age to distinguish
such companions, or to find them out. Such gnathos as these for the
most part belong to great men, and by this glozing flattery,
affability, and such like philters, so dive and insinuate into their
favours, that they are taken for men of excellent worth, wisdom,
learning, demigods, and so screw themselves into dignities, honours,
offices; but these men cause harsh confusion often, and as many times
stirs as Rehoboam's counsellors in a commonwealth, overthrew themselves
and others. Tandlerus and some authors make a doubt, whether love and
hatred may be compelled by philters or characters; Cardan and
Marbodius, by precious stones and amulets; astrologers by election of
times, &c. as [4543]I shall elsewhere discuss. The true object of this
honest love is virtue, wisdom, honesty, [4544]real worth, Interna
forma, and this love cannot deceive or be compelled, ut ameris amabilis
esto, love itself is the most potent philtrum, virtue and wisdom,
gratia gratum faciens, the sole and only grace, not counterfeit, but
open, honest, simple, naked, [4545]descending from heaven, as our
apostle hath it, an infused habit from God, which hath given several
gifts, as wit, learning, tongues, for which they shall be amiable and
gracious, Eph. iv. 11. as to Saul stature and a goodly presence, 1 Sam.
ix. 1. Joseph found favour in Pharaoh's court, Gen. xxxix, for
[4546]his person; and Daniel with the princes of the eunuchs, Dan. xix.
19. Christ was gracious with God and men, Luke ii. 52. There is still
some peculiar grace, as of good discourse, eloquence, wit, honesty,
which is the primum mobile, first mover, and a most forcible loadstone
to draw the favours and good wills of men's eyes, ears, and affections
unto them. When Jesus spake, they were all astonished at his answers,
(Luke ii. 47.) and wondered at his gracious words which proceeded from
his mouth. An orator steals away the hearts of men, and as another
Orpheus, quo vult, unde vult, he pulls them to him by speech alone: a
sweet voice causeth admiration; and he that can utter himself in good
words, in our ordinary phrase, is called a proper man, a divine spirit.
For which cause belike, our old poets, Senatus populusque poetarum,
made Mercury the gentleman-usher to the Graces, captain of eloquence,
and those charities to be Jupiter's and Eurymone's daughters, descended
from above. Though they be otherwise deformed, crooked, ugly to behold,
those good parts of the mind denominate them fair. Plato commends the
beauty of Socrates; yet who was more grim of countenance, stern and
ghastly to look upon? So are and have been many great philosophers, as
[4547]Gregory Nazianzen observes, deformed most part in that which is
to be seen with the eyes, but most elegant in that which is not to be
seen. Saepe sub attrita latitat sapientia veste. Aesop, Democritus,
Aristotle, Politianus, Melancthon, Gesner, &c. withered old men, Sileni
Alcibiadis, very harsh and impolite to the eye; but who were so terse,
polite, eloquent, generally learned, temperate and modest? No man then
living was so fair as Alcibiades, so lovely quo ad superficiem, to the
eye, as [4548]Boethius observes, but he had Corpus turpissimum interne,
a most deformed soul; honesty, virtue, fair conditions, are great
enticers to such as are well given, and much avail to get the favour
and goodwill of men. Abdolominus in Curtius, a poor man, (but which
mine author notes, [4549]the cause of this poverty was his honesty) for
his modesty and continency from a private person (for they found him
digging in his garden) was saluted king, and preferred before all the
magnificoes of his time, injecta ei vestis purpura auroque distincta, a
purple embroidered garment was put upon him, [4550]and they bade him
wash himself, and, as he was worthy, take upon him the style and spirit
of a king, continue his continency and the rest of his good parts.
Titus Pomponius Atticus, that noble citizen of Rome, was so fair
conditioned, of so sweet a carriage, that he was generally beloved of
all good men, of Caesar, Pompey, Antony, Tully, of divers sects, &c.
multas haereditates ([4551]Cornelius Nepos writes) sola bonitate
consequutus. Operae, pretium audire, &c. It is worthy of your
attention, Livy cries, [4552]you that scorn all but riches, and give no
esteem to virtue, except they be wealthy withal, Q. Cincinnatus had but
four acres, and by the consent of the senate was chosen dictator of
Rome. Of such account were Cato, Fabricius, Aristides, Antonius,
Probus, for their eminent worth: so Caesar, Trajan, Alexander, admired
for valour, [4553] Haephestion loved Alexander, but Parmenio the king:
Titus deliciae humani generis, and which Aurelius Victor hath of
Vespasian, the darling of his time, as [4554]Edgar Etheling was in
England, for his [4555]excellent virtues: their memory is yet fresh,
sweet, and we love them many ages after, though they be dead: Suavem
memoriam sui reliquit, saith Lipsius of his friend, living and dead
they are all one. [4556]I have ever loved as thou knowest (so Tully
wrote to Dolabella) Marcus Brutus for his great wit, singular honesty,
constancy, sweet conditions; and believe it [4557] there is nothing so
amiable and fair as virtue. I [4558]do mightily love Calvisinus, (so
Pliny writes to Sossius) a most industrious, eloquent, upright man,
which is all in all with me: the affection came from his good parts.
And as St. Austin comments on the 84th Psalm, [4559]there is a peculiar
beauty of justice, and inward beauty, which we see with the eyes of our
hearts, love, and are enamoured with, as in martyrs, though their
bodies be torn in pieces with wild beasts, yet this beauty shines, and
we love their virtues. The [4560]stoics are of opinion that a wise man
is only fair; and Cato in Tully 3 de Finibus contends the same, that
the lineaments of the mind are far fairer than those of the body,
incomparably beyond them: wisdom and valour according to
[4561]Xenophon, especially deserve the name of beauty, and denominate
one fair, et incomparabiliter pulchrior est (as Austin holds) veritas
Christianorum quam Helena Graecorum. Wine is strong, the king is
strong, women are strong, but truth overcometh all things, Esd. i. 3,
10, 11, 12. Blessed is the man that findeth wisdom, and getteth
understanding, for the merchandise thereof is better than silver, and
the gain thereof better than gold: it is more precious than pearls, and
all the things thou canst desire are not to be compared to her, Prov.
ii. 13, 14, 15, a wise, true, just, upright, and good man, I say it
again, is only fair: [4562]it is reported of Magdalene Queen of France,
and wife to Lewis 11th, a Scottish woman by birth, that walking forth
in an evening with her ladies, she spied M. Alanus, one of the king's
chaplains, a silly, old, [4563]hard-favoured man fast asleep in a
bower, and kissed him sweetly; when the young ladies laughed at her for
it, she replied, that it was not his person that she did embrace and
reverence, but, with a platonic love, the divine beauty of [4564]his
soul. Thus in all ages virtue hath been adored, admired, a singular
lustre hath proceeded from it: and the more virtuous he is, the more
gracious, the more admired. No man so much followed upon earth as
Christ himself: and as the Psalmist saith, xlv. 2, He was fairer than
the sons of men. Chrysostom Hom. 8 in Mat. Bernard Ser. 1. de omnibus
sanctis; Austin, Cassiodore, Hier. in 9 Mat. interpret it of the
[4565]beauty of his person; there was a divine majesty in his looks, it
shined like lightning and drew all men to it: but Basil, Cyril, lib. 6.
super. 55. Esay. Theodoret, Arnobius, &c. of the beauty of his
divinity, justice, grace, eloquence, &c. Thomas in Psal. xliv. of both;
and so doth Baradius and Peter Morales, lib de pulchritud. Jesu et
Mariae, adding as much of Joseph and the Virgin Mary,—haec alias forma
praecesserit omnes, [4566]according to that prediction of Sibylla
Cumea. Be they present or absent, near us, or afar off, this beauty
shines, and will attract men many miles to come and visit it. Plato and
Pythagoras left their country, to see those wise Egyptian priests:
Apollonius travelled into Ethiopia, Persia, to consult with the Magi,
Brachmanni, gymnosophists. The Queen of Sheba came to visit Solomon;
and many, saith [4567]Hierom, went out of Spain and remote places a
thousand miles, to behold that eloquent Livy: [4568]Multi Romam non ut
urbem pulcherrimam, aut urbis et orbis dominum Octavianum, sed ut hunc
unum inviserent audirentque, a Gadibus profecti sunt. No beauty leaves
such an impression, strikes so deep [4569], or links the souls of men
closer than virtue.
[4570]Non per deos aut pictor posset,
Aut statuarius ullus fingere
Talem pulchritudinem qualem virtus habet;
no painter, no graver, no carver can express virtue's lustre, or those
admirable rays that come from it, those enchanting rays that enamour
posterity, those everlasting rays that continue to the world's end.
Many, saith Phavorinus, that loved and admired Alcibiades in his youth,
knew not, cared not for Alcibiades a man, nunc intuentes quaerebant
Alcibiadem; but the beauty of Socrates is still the same;
[4571]virtue's lustre never fades, is ever fresh and green, semper viva
to all succeeding ages, and a most attractive loadstone, to draw and
combine such as are present. For that reason belike, Homer feigns the
three Graces to be linked and tied hand in hand, because the hearts of
men are so firmly united with such graces. [4572]O sweet bands (Seneca
exclaims), which so happily combine, that those which are bound by them
love their binders, desiring withal much more harder to be bound, and
as so many Geryons to be united into one. For the nature of true
friendship is to combine, to be like affected, of one mind,
[4573]Velle et nolle ambobus idem, satiataque toto
Mens aevo———
as the poet saith, still to continue one and the same. And where this
love takes place there is peace and quietness, a true correspondence,
perfect amity, a diapason of vows and wishes, the same opinions, as
between [4574] David and Jonathan, Damon and Pythias, Pylades and
Orestes, [4575]Nysus and Euryalus, Theseus and Pirithous, [4576]they
will live and die together, and prosecute one another with good turns.
[4577]Nam vinci in amore turpissimum putant, not only living, but when
their friends are dead, with tombs and monuments, nenias, epitaphs
elegies, inscriptions, pyramids, obelisks, statues, images, pictures,
histories, poems, annals, feasts, anniversaries, many ages after (as
Plato's scholars did) they will parentare still, omit no good office
that may tend to the preservation of their names, honours, and eternal
memory. [4578]Illum coloribus, illum cera, illum aere, &c. He did
express his friends in colours, in wax, in brass, in ivory, marble,
gold, and silver (as Pliny reports of a citizen in Rome), and in a
great auditory not long since recited a just volume of his life. In
another place, [4579]speaking of an epigram which Martial had composed
in praise of him, [4580]He gave me as much as he might, and would have
done more if he could: though what can a man give more than honour,
glory, and eternity? But that which he wrote peradventure will not
continue, yet he wrote it to continue. 'Tis all the recompense a poor
scholar can make his well-deserving patron, Mecaenas, friend, to
mention him in his works, to dedicate a book to his name, to write his
life, &c., as all our poets, orators, historiographers have ever done,
and the greatest revenge such men take of their adversaries, to
persecute them with satires, invectives, &c., and 'tis both ways of
great moment, as [4581] Plato gives us to understand. Paulus Jovius, in
the fourth book of the life and deeds of Pope Leo Decimus, his noble
patron, concludes in these words, [4582]Because I cannot honour him as
other rich men do, with like endeavour, affection, and piety, I have
undertaken to write his life; since my fortunes will not give me leave
to make a more sumptuous monument, I will perform those rites to his
sacred ashes, which a small, perhaps, but a liberal wit can afford. But
I rove. Where this true love is wanting, there can be no firm peace,
friendship from teeth outward, counterfeit, or for some by-respects, so
long dissembled, till they have satisfied their own ends, which, upon
every small occasion, breaks out into enmity, open war, defiance,
heart-burnings, whispering, calumnies, contentions, and all manner of
bitter melancholy discontents. And those men which have no other object
of their love, than greatness, wealth, authority, &c., are rather
feared than beloved; nec amant quemquam, nec amantur ab ullo: and
howsoever borne with for a time, yet for their tyranny and oppression,
griping, covetousness, currish hardness, folly, intemperance,
imprudence, and such like vices, they are generally odious, abhorred of
all, both God and men.
Non uxor salvum te vult, non filius, omnes
Vicini oderunt,———
wife and children, friends, neighbours, all the world forsakes them,
would feign be rid of them, and are compelled many times to lay violent
hands on them, or else God's judgments overtake them: instead of
graces, come furies. So when fair [4583]Abigail, a woman of singular
wisdom, was acceptable to David, Nabal was churlish and
evil-conditioned; and therefore [4584]Mordecai was received, when Haman
was executed, Haman the favourite, that had his seat above the other
princes, to whom all the king's servants that stood in the gates, bowed
their knees and reverenced. Though they flourished many times, such
hypocrites, such temporising foxes, and blear the world's eyes by
flattery, bribery, dissembling their natures, or other men's weakness,
that cannot so apprehend their tricks, yet in the end they will be
discerned, and precipitated in a moment: surely, saith David, thou hast
set them in slippery places, Psal. xxxvii. 5. as so many Sejani, they
will come down to the Gemonian scales; and as Eusebius in [4585]
Ammianus, that was in such authority, ad jubendum Imperatorem, be cast
down headlong on a sudden. Or put case they escape, and rest unmasked
to their lives' end, yet after their death their memory stinks as a
snuff of a candle put out, and those that durst not so much as mutter
against them in their lives, will prosecute their name with satires,
libels, and bitter imprecations, they shall male audire in all
succeeding ages, and be odious to the world's end.
MEMB. III.
_Charity composed of all three Kinds, Pleasant, Profitable, Honest_.
Besides this love that comes from profit, pleasant, honest (for one
good turn asks another in equity), that which proceeds from the law of
nature, or from discipline and philosophy, there is yet another love
compounded of all these three, which is charity, and includes piety,
dilection, benevolence, friendship, even all those virtuous habits; for
love is the circle equant of all other affections, of which Aristotle
dilates at large in his Ethics, and is commanded by God, which no man
can well perform, but he that is a Christian, and a true regenerate
man; this is,[4586]To love God above all, and our neighbour as ourself;
for this love is lychnus accendens et accensus, a communicating light,
apt to illuminate itself as well as others. All other objects are fair,
and very beautiful, I confess; kindred, alliance, friendship, the love
that we owe to our country, nature, wealth, pleasure, honour, and such
moral respects, &c., of which read [4587]copious Aristotle in his
morals; a man is beloved of a man, in that he is a man; but all these
are far more eminent and great, when they shall proceed from a
sanctified spirit, that hath a true touch of religion, and a reference
to God. Nature binds all creatures to love their young ones; a hen to
preserve her brood will run upon a lion, a hind will fight with a bull,
a sow with a bear, a silly sheep with a fox. So the same nature urgeth
a man to love his parents, ([4588]dii me pater omnes oderint, ni te
magis quam oculos amem meos!) and this love cannot be dissolved, as
Tully holds, [4589]without detestable offence: but much more God's
commandment, which enjoins a filial love, and an obedience in this
kind. [4590]The love of brethren is great, and like an arch of stones,
where if one be displaced, all comes down, no love so forcible and
strong, honest, to the combination of which, nature, fortune, virtue,
happily concur; yet this love comes short of it. [4591]Dulce et decorum
pro patria mori, [4592]it cannot be expressed, what a deal of charity
that one name of country contains. Amor laudis et patriae pro stipendio
est; the Decii did se devovere, Horatii, Curii, Scaevola, Regulus,
Codrus, sacrifice themselves for their country's peace and good.
[4593]Una dies Fabios ad bellum miserat omnes,
Ad bellum missos perdidit una dies.
One day the Fabii stoutly warred,
One day the Fabii were destroyed.
Fifty thousand Englishmen lost their lives willingly near Battle Abbey,
in defence of their country. [4594]P. Aemilius l. 6. speaks of six
senators of Calais, that came with halters in their hands to the king
of England, to die for the rest. This love makes so many writers take
such pains, so many historiographers, physicians, &c., or at least, as
they pretend, for common safety, and their country's benefit.
[4595]Sanctum nomen amiciticae, sociorum communio sacra; friendship is
a holy name, and a sacred communion of friends. [4596]As the sun is in
the firmament, so is friendship in the world, a most divine and
heavenly band. As nuptial love makes, this perfects mankind, and is to
be preferred (if you will stand to the judgment of [4597]Cornelius
Nepos) before affinity or consanguinity; plus in amiciticia valet
similitudo morum, quam affinitas, &c., the cords of love bind faster
than any other wreath whatsoever. Take this away, and take all
pleasure, joy, comfort, happiness, and true content out of the world;
'tis the greatest tie, the surest indenture, strongest band, and, as
our modern Maro decides it, is much to be preferred before the rest.
[4598]Hard is the doubt, and difficult to deem,
When all three kinds of love together meet;
And do dispart the heart with power extreme,
Whether shall weigh the balance down; to wit,
The dear affection unto kindred sweet,
Or raging fire of love to women kind,
Or zeal of friends, combin'd by virtues meet;
But of them all the band of virtuous mind,
Methinks the gentle heart should most assured bind.
For natural affection soon doth cease,
And quenched is with Cupid's greater flame;
But faithful friendship doth them both suppress,
And them with mastering discipline doth tame,
Through thoughts aspiring to eternal fame.
For as the soul doth rule the earthly mass,
And all the service of the body frame,
So love of soul doth love of body pass,
No less than perfect gold surmounts the meanest brass.
[4599]A faithful friend is better than [4600]gold, a medicine of
misery, [4601]an only possession; yet this love of friends, nuptial,
heroical, profitable, pleasant, honest, all three loves put together,
are little worth, if they proceed not from a true Christian illuminated
soul, if it be not done in ordine ad Deum for God's sake. Though I had
the gift of prophecy, spake with tongues of men and angels, though I
feed the poor with all my goods, give my body to be burned, and have
not this love, it profiteth me nothing, 1 Cor. xiii. 1, 3. 'tis
splendidum peccatum, without charity. This is an all-apprehending love,
a deifying love, a refined, pure, divine love, the quintessence of all
love, the true philosopher's stone, Non potest enim, as [4602]Austin
infers, veraciter amicus esse hominis, nisi fuerit ipsius primitus
veritatis, He is no true friend that loves not God's truth. And
therefore this is true love indeed, the cause of all good to mortal
men, that reconciles all creatures, and glues them together in
perpetual amity and firm league; and can no more abide bitterness,
hate, malice, than fair and foul weather, light and darkness, sterility
and plenty may be together; as the sun in the firmament (I say), so is
love in the world; and for this cause 'tis love without an addition,
love κατ' ἐξοχὴν, love of God, and love of men. [4603]The love of God
begets the love of man; and by this love of our neighbour, the love of
God is nourished and increased. By this happy union of love, [4604]all
well-governed families and cities are combined, the heavens annexed,
and divine souls complicated, the world itself composed, and all that
is in it conjoined in God, and reduced to one. [4605]This love causeth
true and absolute virtues, the life, spirit, and root of every virtuous
action, it finisheth prosperity, easeth adversity, corrects all natural
encumbrances, inconveniences, sustained by faith and hope, which with
this our love make an indissoluble twist, a Gordian knot, an
equilateral triangle, and yet the greatest of them is love, 1 Cor.
xiii. 13, [4606]which inflames our souls with a divine heat, and being
so inflamed, purged, and so purgeth, elevates to God, makes an
atonement, and reconciles us unto him. [4607] That other love infects
the soul of man, this cleanseth; that depresses, this rears; that
causeth cares and troubles, this quietness of mind; this informs, that
deforms our life; that leads to repentance, this to heaven. For if once
we be truly linked and touched with this charity, we shall love God
above all, our neighbour as ourself, as we are enjoined, Mark xii. 31.
Matt. xix. 19. perform those duties and exercises, even all the
operations of a good Christian.
This love suffereth long, it is bountiful, envieth not, boasteth not
itself, is not puffed up, it deceiveth not, it seeketh not his own
things, is not provoked to anger, it thinketh not evil, it rejoiceth
not in iniquity, but in truth. It suffereth all things, believeth all
things, hopeth all things, 1 Cor. xiii. 4, 5, 6, 7; it covereth all
trespasses, Prov, x. 12; a multitude of sins, 1 Pet. 4, as our Saviour
told the woman in the Gospel, that washed his feet, many sins were
forgiven her, for she loved much, Luke vii. 47; it will defend the
fatherless and the widow, Isa. i. 17; will seek no revenge, or be
mindful of wrong, Levit. xix. 18; will bring home his brother's ox if
he go astray, as it is commanded, Deut. xxii. 1; will resist evil, give
to him that asketh, and not turn from him that borroweth, bless them
that curse him, love his enemy, Matt. v; bear his brother's burthen,
Gal. vi. 7. He that so loves will be hospitable, and distribute to the
necessities of the saints; he will, if it be possible, have peace with
all men, feed his enemy if he be hungry, if he be athirst give him
drink; he will perform those seven works of mercy, he will make himself
equal to them of the lower sort, rejoice with them that rejoice, weep
with them that weep, Rom. xii; he will speak truth to his neighbour, be
courteous and tender-hearted, forgiving others for Christ's sake, as
God forgave him, Eph. iv. 32; he will be like minded, Phil. ii. 2. Of
one judgment; be humble, meek, long-suffering, Colos. iii. Forbear,
forget and forgive, xii. 13. 23. and what he doth shall be heartily
done to God, and not to men. Be pitiful and courteous, 1 Pet. iii. Seek
peace and follow it. He will love his brother, not in word and tongue,
but in deed and truth, John iii. 18. and he that loves God, Christ will
love him that is begotten of him, John v. 1, &c. Thus should we
willingly do, if we had a true touch of this charity, of this divine
love, if we could perform this which we are enjoined, forget and
forgive, and compose ourselves to those Christian laws of love.
[4608]O felix hominum genus,
Si vestros animos amor
Quo coelum regitur regat!
Angelical souls, how blessed, how happy should we be, so loving, how
might we triumph over the devil, and have another heaven upon earth!
But this we cannot do; and which is the cause of all our woes,
miseries, discontent, melancholy, [4609]want of this charity. We do
invicem angariare, contemn, consult, vex, torture, molest, and hold one
another's noses to the grindstone hard, provoke, rail, scoff,
calumniate, challenge, hate, abuse (hard-hearted, implacable,
malicious, peevish, inexorable as we are), to satisfy our lust or
private spleen, for [4610]toys, trifles, and impertinent occasions,
spend ourselves, goods, friends, fortunes, to be revenged on our
adversary, to ruin him and his. 'Tis all our study, practice, and
business how to plot mischief, mine, countermine, defend and offend,
ward ourselves, injure others, hurt all; as if we were born to do
mischief, and that with such eagerness and bitterness, with such
rancour, malice, rage, and fury, we prosecute our intended designs,
that neither affinity or consanguinity, love or fear of God or men can
contain us: no satisfaction, no composition will be accepted, no
offices will serve, no submission; though he shall upon his knees, as
Sarpedon did to Glaucus in Homer, acknowledging his error, yield
himself with tears in his eyes, beg his pardon, we will not relent,
forgive, or forget, till we have confounded him and his, made dice of
his bones, as they say, see him rot in prison, banish his friends,
followers, et omne invisum genus, rooted him out and all his posterity.
Monsters of men as we are, dogs, wolves, [4611]tigers, fiends,
incarnate devils, we do not only contend, oppress, and tyrannise
ourselves, but as so many firebrands, we set on, and animate others:
our whole life is a perpetual combat, a conflict, a set battle, a
snarling fit. Eris dea is settled in our tents, [4612]Omnia de lite,
opposing wit to wit, wealth to wealth, strength to strength, fortunes
to fortunes, friends to friends, as at a sea-fight, we turn our
broadsides, or two millstones with continual attrition, we fire
ourselves, or break another's backs, and both are ruined and consumed
in the end. Miserable wretches, to fat and enrich ourselves, we care
not how we get it, Quocunque modo rem; how many thousands we undo, whom
we oppress, by whose ruin and downfall we arise, whom we injure,
fatherless children, widows, common societies, to satisfy our own
private lust. Though we have myriads, abundance of wealth and treasure,
(pitiless, merciless, remorseless, and uncharitable in the highest
degree), and our poor brother in need, sickness, in great extremity,
and now ready to be starved for want of food, we had rather, as the fox
told the ape, his tail should sweep the ground still, than cover his
buttocks; rather spend it idly, consume it with dogs, hawks, hounds,
unnecessary buildings, in riotous apparel, ingurgitate, or let it be
lost, than he should have part of it; [4613]rather take from him that
little which he hath, than relieve him.
Like the dog in the manger, we neither use it ourselves, let others
make use of or enjoy it; part with nothing while we live: for want of
disposing our household, and setting things in order, set all the world
together by the ears after our death. Poor Lazarus lies howling at his
gates for a few crumbs, he only seeks chippings, offals; let him roar
and howl, famish, and eat his own flesh, he respects him not. A poor
decayed kinsman of his sets upon him by the way in all his jollity, and
runs begging bareheaded by him, conjuring by those former bonds of
friendship, alliance, consanguinity, &c., uncle, cousin, brother,
father,
———Per ego has lachrymas, dextramque tuam te,
Si quidquam de te merui, fuit aut tibi quidquam
Dulce meum, misere mei.
Show some pity for Christ's sake, pity a sick man, an old man, &c., he
cares not, ride on: pretend sickness, inevitable loss of limbs, goods,
plead suretyship, or shipwreck, fires, common calamities, show thy
wants and imperfections,
Et si per sanctum juratus dicat Osyrim,
Credite, non ludo, crudeles tollite claudum.