The Anatomy of Melancholy Part 25

Comitas is a virtue between rusticity and scurrility, two extremes, as affability is between flattery and contention, it must not exceed; but be still accompanied with that [2181][Greek: ablabeia] or innocency, _quae nemini nocet, omnem injuriae, oblationem abhorrens_, hurts no man, abhors all offer of injury. Though a man be liable to such a jest or obloquy, have been overseen, or committed a foul fact, yet it is no good manners or humanity, to upbraid, to hit him in the teeth with his offence, or to scoff at such a one; 'tis an old axiom, _turpis in reum omnis exprobratio_.[2182]

I speak not of such as generally tax vice, Barclay, Gentilis, Erasmus, Agrippa, Fishcartus, &c., the Varronists and Lucians of our time, satirists, epigrammists, comedians, apologists, &c., but such as personate, rail, scoff, calumniate, perstringe by name, or in presence offend;

[2183] "Ludit qui stolida procacitate Non est Sestius ille sed caballus:"

'Tis horse-play this, and those jests (as he [2184]saith) "are no better than injuries," biting jests, _mordentes et aculeati_, they are poisoned jests, leave a sting behind them, and ought not to be used.

[2185] "Set not thy foot to make the blind to fall; Nor wilfully offend thy weaker brother: Nor wound the dead with thy tongue's bitter gall, Neither rejoice thou in the fall of other."

If these rules could be kept, we should have much more ease and quietness than we have, less melancholy, whereas on the contrary, we study to misuse each other, how to sting and gall, like two fighting boors, bending all our force and wit, friends, fortune, to crucify [2186]one another's souls; by means of which, there is little content and charity, much virulency, hatred, malice, and disquietness among us.

SUBSECT. V.--_Loss of Liberty, Servitude, Imprisonment, how they cause Melancholy_.

To this catalogue of causes, I may well annex loss of liberty, servitude, or imprisonment, which to some persons is as great a torture as any of the rest. Though they have all things convenient, sumptuous houses to their use, fair walks and gardens, delicious bowers, galleries, good fare and diet, and all things correspondent, yet they are not content, because they are confined, may not come and go at their pleasure, have and do what they will, but live [2187]_aliena quadra_, at another man's table and command.

As it is [2188]in meats so it is in all other things, places, societies, sports; let them be never so pleasant, commodious, wholesome, so good; yet _omnium rerum est satietas_, there is a loathing satiety of all things. The children of Israel were tired with manna, it is irksome to them so to live, as to a bird in his cage, or a dog in his kennel, they are weary of it.

They are happy, it is true, and have all things, to another man's judgment, that heart can wish, or that they themselves can desire, _bona si sua norint_: yet they loathe it, and are tired with the present: _Est natura hominum novitatis avida_; men's nature is still desirous of news, variety, delights; and our wandering affections are so irregular in this kind, that they must change, though it must be to the worst. Bachelors must be married, and married men would be bachelors; they do not love their own wives, though otherwise fair, wise, virtuous, and well qualified, because they are theirs; our present estate is still the worst, we cannot endure one course of life long, _et quod modo voverat, odit_, one calling long, _esse in honore juvat, mox displicet_; one place long, [2189]_Romae Tibur amo, ventosus Tybure Romam_, that which we earnestly sought, we now contemn. _Hoc quosdam agit ad mortem_, (saith [2190]Seneca) _quod proposita saepe mutando in eadem revolvuntur, et non relinquunt novitati loc.u.m: Fastidio caepit esse vita, et ipsus mundus, et subit illud rapidissimarum deliciarum, Quousque eadem_? this alone kills many a man, that they are tied to the same still, as a horse in a mill, a dog in a wheel, they run round, without alteration or news, their life groweth odious, the world loathsome, and that which crosseth their furious delights, what? still the same? Marcus Aurelius and Solomon, that had experience of all worldly delights and pleasure, confessed as much of themselves; what they most desired, was tedious at last, and that their l.u.s.t could never be satisfied, all was vanity and affliction of mind.

Now if it be death itself, another h.e.l.l, to be glutted with one kind of sport, dieted with one dish, tied to one place; though they have all things otherwise as they can desire, and are in heaven to another man's opinion, what misery and discontent shall they have, that live in slavery, or in prison itself? _Quod tristius morte, in servitute vivendum_, as Hermolaus told Alexander in [2191]Curtius, worse than death is bondage: [2192]_hoc animo scito omnes fortes, ut mortem servituti anteponant_, All brave men at arms (Tully holds) are so affected. [2193]_Equidem ego is sum, qui servitutem extremum omnium malorum esse arbitror_: I am he (saith Boterus) that account servitude the extremity of misery. And what calamity do they endure, that live with those hard taskmasters, in gold mines (like those 30,000 [2194]Indian slaves at Potosi, in Peru), tin-mines, lead-mines, stone-quarries, coal-pits, like so many mouldwarps under ground, condemned to the galleys, to perpetual drudgery, hunger, thirst, and stripes, without all hope of delivery? How are those women in Turkey affected, that most part of the year come not abroad; those Italian and Spanish dames, that are mewed up like hawks, and locked up by their jealous husbands? how tedious is it to them that live in stoves and caves half a year together? as in Iceland, Muscovy, or under the [2195]pole itself, where they have six months' perpetual night. Nay, what misery and discontent do they endure, that are in prison? They want all those six non-natural things at once, good air, good diet, exercise, company, sleep, rest, ease, &c., that are bound in chains all day long, suffer hunger, and (as [2196]Lucian describes it) "must abide that filthy stink, and rattling of chains, howlings, pitiful outcries, that prisoners usually make; these things are not only troublesome, but intolerable." They lie nastily among toads and frogs in a dark dungeon, in their own dung, in pain of body, in pain of soul, as Joseph did, Psal. cv. 18, "they hurt his feet in the stocks, the iron entered his soul." They live solitary, alone, sequestered from all company but heart-eating melancholy; and for want of meat, must eat that bread of affliction, prey upon themselves. Well might [2197]Arcula.n.u.s put long imprisonment for a cause, especially to such as have lived jovially, in all sensuality and l.u.s.t, upon a sudden are estranged and debarred from all manner of pleasures: as were Huniades, Edward, and Richard II., Valerian the Emperor, Bajazet the Turk. If it be irksome to miss our ordinary companions and repast for once a day, or an hour, what shall it be to lose them for ever? If it be so great a delight to live at liberty, and to enjoy that variety of objects the world affords; what misery and discontent must it needs bring to him, that shall now be cast headlong into that Spanish inquisition, to fall from heaven to h.e.l.l, to be cubbed up upon a sudden, how shall he be perplexed, what shall become of him? [2198] Robert Duke of Normandy being imprisoned by his youngest brother Henry I., _ab illo die inconsolabili dolore in carcere contabuit_, saith Matthew Paris, from that day forward pined away with grief. [2199]Jugurtha that generous captain, "brought to Rome in triumph, and after imprisoned, through anguish of his soul, and melancholy, died." [2200]Roger, Bishop of Salisbury, the second man from King Stephen (he that built that famous castle of [2201]Devizes in Wiltshire,) was so tortured in prison with hunger, and all those calamities accompanying such men, [2202]_ut vivere noluerit, mori nescierit_, he would not live, and could not die, between fear of death, and torments of life.

Francis King of France was taken prisoner by Charles V., _ad mortem fere melancholicus_, saith Guicciardini, melancholy almost to death, and that in an instant. But this is as clear as the sun, and needs no further ill.u.s.tration.

SUBSECT. VI.--_Poverty and Want, Causes of Melancholy_.

Poverty and want are so violent oppugners, so unwelcome guests, so much abhorred of all men, that I may not omit to speak of them apart. Poverty, although (if considered aright, to a wise, understanding, truly regenerate, and contented man) it be _donum Dei_, a blessed estate, the way to heaven, as [2203]Chrysostom calls it, G.o.d's gift, the mother of modesty, and much to be preferred before riches (as shall be shown in his [2204]place), yet as it is esteemed in the world's censure, it is a most odious calling, vile and base, a severe torture, _summum scelus_, a most intolerable burden; we [2205]shun it all, _cane pejus et angue_ (worse than a dog or a snake), we abhor the name of it, [2206]_Paupertas fugitur, totoque 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 bottom of the sea, to the bowels of the earth, [2207]five, six, seven, eight, nine hundred fathom deep, through all five zones, and both extremes of heat and cold: we will turn parasites and slaves, prost.i.tute ourselves, swear and lie, d.a.m.n our bodies and souls, forsake G.o.d, abjure religion, steal, rob, murder, rather than endure this insufferable yoke of poverty, which doth so tyrannise, crucify, 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: [2208]_Ubique tanti quisque 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 virtuously endowed, or villainously inclined; let him be a bawd, a gripe, an usurer, a villain, a pagan, a barbarian, a wretch, [2209]Lucian's tyrant, "on whom you may look with less security than on the sun;" so that he be rich (and liberal withal) he shall be honoured, admired, adored, reverenced, and highly [2210]magnified. "The rich is had in reputation because of his goods," Eccl. x. 31. He shall be befriended: "for riches gather many friends," Prov. xix. 4,--_multos numerabit amicos_, all [2211]happiness ebbs and flows with his money. He shall be accounted a gracious lord, a Mecaenas, a benefactor, a wise, discreet, a proper, a valiant, a fortunate man, of a generous spirit, _Pullus Jovis, et gallinae, filius albae_: a hopeful, a good man, a virtuous, honest man. _Quando ego ie Junonium puerum, et matris partum vere aureum_, as [2212]Tully said of Octavia.n.u.s, while he was adopted Caesar, and an heir [2213]apparent of so great a monarchy, he was a golden child. All [2214]honour, offices, applause, grand t.i.tles, and turgent epithets are put upon him, _omnes omnia bona dicere_; all men's eyes are upon him, G.o.d bless his good worship, his honour; [2215]every man speaks well 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 Olympics, if he speak, as of Herod, _Vox Dei, non hominis_, the voice of G.o.d, not of man. All the graces, Veneres, pleasures, elegances attend him, [2216] golden fortune accompanies and lodgeth with him; and as to those Roman emperors, is placed in his chamber.

[2217] ------"Secura naviget aura, Fortunamque suo temperet arbitrio:"

he may sail as he will himself, and temper his estate at his pleasure, jovial days, splendour and magnificence, sweet music, 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: [2218]Divines (for _Pythia Philippisat_) lawyers, physicians, philosophers, scholars are his, wholly devote to his service. Every man seeks his [2219]acquaintance, his kindred, to match with him, though he be an oaf, a ninny, a monster, a goose-cap, _uxorem ducat Danaen_, [2220]when, and whom he will, _hunc optant generum Rex et Regina_--he is an excellent [2221]match for my son, my daughter, my niece, &c. _Quicquid calcaverit hic, Rosa fiet_, let him go whither he will, trumpets sound, bells ring, &c., all happiness attends him, every man is willing to entertain him, he sups in [2222]Apollo wheresoever he comes; what preparation is made for his [2223]entertainment? fish and fowl, spices and perfumes, all that sea and land affords. What cookery, masking, mirth to exhilarate his person?

[2224] "Da Trebio, pone ad Trebium, vis frater ab illia Ilibus?"------

What dish will your good worship eat of?

[2225] ------"dulcia poma, Et quoscunque feret cultus tibi fundus honores, Ante Larem, gustet venerabilior Lare dives."

"Sweet apples, and whate'er thy fields afford, Before thy G.o.ds be serv'd, let serve thy Lord."

What sport will your honour have? hawking, hunting, fishing, fowling, bulls, bears, cards, dice, c.o.c.ks, players, tumblers, fiddlers, jesters, &c., they are at your good worship's command. Fair houses, gardens, orchards, terraces, galleries, cabinets, pleasant walks, delightsome places, they are at hand: [2226]_in aureis lac, vinum in argenteis, adolescentulae ad nutum speciosae_, wine, wenches, &c. a Turkish paradise, a heaven upon earth. Though he be a silly soft fellow, and scarce have common sense, yet if he be borne to fortunes (as I have said) [2227]_jure haereditario sapere jubetur_, he must have honour and office in his course: [2228]_Nemo nisi dives honore dignus_ (Ambros. _offic. 21._) none so worthy as himself: he shall have it, _atque esto quicquid Servius aut Labeo_. Get money enough and command [2229]kingdoms, provinces, armies, hearts, hands, and affections; thou shalt have popes, patriarchs to be thy chaplains and parasites: thou shalt have (Tamerlane-like) kings to draw thy coach, queens to be thy laundresses, emperors thy footstools, build more towns and cities than great Alexander, Babel towers, pyramids and Mausolean tombs, &c.

command heaven and earth, and tell the world it is thy va.s.sal, _auro emitur diadema, argento caelum panditur, denarius philosophum conducit, nummus jus cogit, obolus literatum pascit, metallum sanitatem conciliat, aes amicos conglutinat_. [2230]And therefore not without good cause, John de Medicis, that rich Florentine, when he lay upon his death-bed, calling his sons, Cosmo and Laurence, before him, amongst other sober sayings, repeated this, _animo quieto digredior, quod vos sanos et divites post me relinquam_, "It doth me good to think yet, though I be dying, that I shall leave you, my children, sound and rich:" for wealth sways all. It is not with us, as amongst those Lacedaemonian senators of Lycurgus in Plutarch, "He preferred that deserved best, was most virtuous and worthy of the place, [2231]not swiftness, or strength, or wealth, or friends carried 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 privileged by their greatness. [2232]They may freely trespa.s.s, 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 laws, and for their money get pardons, indulgences, redeem their souls from purgatory and h.e.l.l itself,--_clausum possidet arca Jovem_. Let them be epicures, or atheists, libertines, Machiavellians, (as they often are) [2233]_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 canonised for saints, they shall be [2234]honourably interred in Mausolean tombs, commended by poets, registered in histories, have temples and statues erected to their names,--_e manibus illis--nascentur violae_.--If he be bountiful in his life, and liberal at his death, he shall have one to swear, as he did by Claudius the Emperor in Tacitus, he saw his soul go to heaven, and be miserably lamented at his funeral. _Ambubalarum collegia, &c. Trimalcionis topanta_ in Petronius _recta in caelum abiit_, went right to heaven: a, base quean, [2235]"thou wouldst have scorned once in thy misery to have a penny from her;" and why? _modio nummos metiit_, she measured her money by the bushel. These prerogatives do not usually belong to rich men, but to such as are most part seeming rich, let him have but a good [2236]outside, he carries it, and shall be adored for a G.o.d, as [2237]Cyrus was amongst the Persians, _ob splendidum apparatum_, for his gay attires; now most men are esteemed according to their clothes. 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 man, believe it, if you shall examine his estate, he will likely be proved a serving man of no great note, my lady's tailor, his lordship's barber, or some such gull, a Fastidius Brisk, Sir Petronel Flash, a mere 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.

But on the contrary, if he be poor, Prov. xv. 15, "all his days are miserable," he is under hatches, dejected, rejected and forsaken, poor in purse, poor in spirit; [2238]_prout res n.o.bis fluit, ita et animus se habet_; [2239]money gives life and soul. Though he be honest, wise, learned, well-deserving, n.o.ble 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 molestus_. [2240]"If he speak, what babbler is this?" Ecclus, his n.o.bility without wealth, is [2241]_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; [2242]for to be poor, is to be a knave, a fool, a wretch, a wicked, an odious fellow, a common eyesore, say poor and say all; they are born to labour, to misery, to carry burdens like juments, _pistum stercus comedere_ with Ulysses' companions, and as Chremilus objected in Aristophanes, [2243]

_salem lingere_, lick salt, to empty jakes, fay channels, [2244]carry out dirt and dunghills, sweep chimneys, rub horse-heels, &c. I say nothing of Turks, galley-slaves, which are bought [2245]and sold like juments, or those African Negroes, or poor [2246]Indian drudges, _qui indies hinc inde deferendis oneribus occ.u.mbunt, nam quod apud nos boves et asini vehunt, trahunt_, &c. [2247]_Id omne misellis Indis_, they are ugly to behold, and though erst spruce, now rusty and squalid, because poor, [2248]_immundas fortunas aquum est squalorem sequi_, it is ordinarily so. [2249]"Others eat to live, but they live to drudge," [2250]_servilis et misera gens nihil recusare audet_, a servile generation, that dare refuse no task.--[2251]_Heus tu Dromo, cape hoc flabellum, ventulum hinc facito dum lavamus_, sirrah blow wind upon us while we wash, and bid your fellow get him up betimes in the morning, be it fair or foul, he shall run fifty miles afoot tomorrow, to carry me a letter to my mistress, _Socia ad pistrinam_, Socia shall tarry at home and grind malt 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 horseback, or as [2252]"walls for them to p.i.s.s on." They are commonly such people, rude, silly, superst.i.tious idiots, nasty, unclean, lousy, poor, dejected, slavishly humble: and as [2253]Leo Afer observes of the commonalty of Africa, _natura viliores sunt, nec apud suos duces majore in precio quam si canes essent_: [2254]base by nature, and no more esteemed than dogs, _miseram, laboriosam, calamitosam vitam agunt, et inopem, infelicem, rudiores asinis, ut e brutis plane natos dicas_: no learning, no knowledge, no civility, scarce common, sense, nought but barbarism amongst them, _belluino more vivunt, neque calceos gestant, neque vestes_, like rogues and vagabonds, they go barefooted and barelegged, the soles of their feet being as hard as horse-hoofs, as [2255]Radzivilus observed at Damietta in Egypt, leading a laborious, miserable, wretched, unhappy life, [2256]"like beasts and juments, if not worse:" (for a [2257]Spaniard in Incatan, sold three Indian boys for a cheese, and a hundred Negro slaves for a 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 plerique latrinas evacuant, alii culinariam curant, alii stabularios agunt, urinatores et id genus similia exercent_, &c. like those people that dwell in the [2258]Alps, chimney-sweepers, jakes-farmers, 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 [2259]beggary, fulsome nastiness, squalor, contempt, drudgery, labour, ugliness, hunger and thirst; _pediculorum, et pulic.u.m numerum_? as [2260] he well followed it in Aristophanes, fleas and lice, _pro pallio vestem laceram, et pro pulvinari lapidem bene magnum ad caput_, rags for his raiment, and a stone for his pillow, _pro cathedra, ruptae caput urnae_, he sits in a broken pitcher, or on a block for a chair, _et malvae, ramos pro panibus comedit_, he drinks water, and lives on wort leaves, pulse, like a hog, or sc.r.a.ps like a dog, _ut nunc n.o.bis vita afficitur, quis non putabit insaniam esse, infelicitatemque_? as Chremilus concludes his speech, as we poor men live nowadays, who will not take our life to be [2261] infelicity, misery, and madness?

If they be of little better condition than those base villains, hunger-starved beggars, wandering rogues, those ordinary slaves, and day-labouring drudges; yet they are commonly so preyed upon by [2262]

polling officers for breaking the laws, by their tyrannising landlords, so flayed and fleeced by perpetual [2263]exactions, that though they do drudge, fare hard, and starve their genius, they cannot live in [2264]some countries; but what they 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. x.x.xi. 1, it makes them weary of their lives: when they have taken all pains, done their utmost and honest endeavours, if they be cast behind by sickness, or overtaken with years, no man pities them, hard-hearted and merciless, uncharitable as they are, they leave them so distressed, to beg, steal, murmur, and [2265]

rebel, or else starve. The feeling and fear of this misery compelled those old Romans, whom Menenius Agrippa pacified, to resist their governors: outlaws, and rebels in most places, to take up seditious arms, and in all ages hath caused uproars, murmurings, seditions, rebellions, thefts, murders, mutinies, jars and contentions in every commonwealth: grudging, repining, complaining, discontent in each private family, because they want means to live according to their callings, bring up their children, it breaks their hearts, they cannot do as they would. No greater misery than 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 require. Poverty and want are generally corrosives to all kinds of men, especially to such as have been in good and flourishing estate, are suddenly distressed, [2266]n.o.bly born, liberally brought up, and, by some disaster and casualty miserably dejected. For the rest, as they have base fortunes, so have they base minds correspondent, like beetles, _e stercore orti, e stercore victus, in stercore delicium_, as they were obscurely born and bred, so they delight in obscenity; they are not thoroughly touched with it. _Angustas animas angusto in pectore versant_. [2267]Yet, 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 [2268]Terence in Rome was by Scipio, Laelius, and Furius, his great and n.o.ble friends.

"Nil Publius Scipio profuit, nil ei Laelius, nil Furius, Tres per idem tempus qui agitabant n.o.biles facillime, Horum ille opera ne domum quident habuit conduct.i.tiam."[2269]

'Tis generally so, _Tempora si fuerint nubila, solus eris_, he is left cold and comfortless, _nullas ad amissas ibit amicus opes_, all flee from him as from a rotten wall, now ready to fall on their heads. Prov. xix. 1.

"Poverty separates them from their [2270]neighbours."

[2271] "Dum fortuna favet vultum servatis amici, c.u.m cecidit, turpi vert.i.tis ora fuga."

"Whilst fortune favour'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 [2272]every man contemns him, insults over him, oppresseth him, scoffs at, aggravates his misery.

[2273] "Quum caepit qua.s.sata domus subsidere, partes In proclinatas omne rec.u.mbit onus."

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

Nay they are odious to their own brethren, and dearest friends, Pro. xix.

7. "His brethren hate him if he be poor," [2274]_omnes vicini oderunt_, "his neighbours hate him," Pro. xiv. 20, [2275]_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 [2276]jests, taunts, flouts, blows of their betters, and take all in good part to get a meal's meat: [2277]_magnum pauperies opprobrium, jubet quidvis et facere et pati_. He must turn parasite, jester, fool, _c.u.m desipientibus desipere_; saith [2278]Euripides, slave, villain, drudge to get a poor living, apply himself to each man's humours, to win and please, &c., and be buffeted when he hath all done, as Ulysses was by Melanthius [2279]in Homer, be reviled, baffled, insulted over, for [2280]_potentiorum stult.i.tia 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 thieves, rebels, murderers, traitors, a.s.sa.s.sins, "because of poverty we have sinned,"

Ecclus. xxvii. 1, swear and forswear, bear false witness, lie, dissemble, anything, as I say, to advantage themselves, and to relieve their necessities: [2281] _Culpae scelerisque magistra est_, when a man is driven to his shifts, what will he not do?

[2282] ------"si miserum fortuna Sinonem Finxit, vanum etiam mendacemque improba finget."

he will betray his father, prince, and country, turn Turk, forsake religion, abjure G.o.d and all, _nulla tam horrenda proditio, quam illi lucri causa_ (saith [2283]Leo Afer) _perpetrare nolint_. [2284]Plato, therefore, calls poverty, "thievish, 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 tyrannise, landlords oppress, justice mercenary, lawyers vultures, physicians harpies, friends importunate, tradesmen liars, honest men thieves, devout a.s.sa.s.sins, great men to prost.i.tute their wives, daughters, and themselves, middle sort to repine, commons to mutiny, all to grudge, murmur, and complain. A great temptation to all mischief, it compels some miserable wretches to counterfeit several diseases, to dismember, make themselves blind, 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 yield abundant testimonies amongst us; we have dummerers, Abraham men, &c. And that which is the extent of misery, it enforceth them through anguish and wearisomeness of their lives, to make away themselves; they had rather be hanged, drowned, &c., than to live without means.

[2285] "In mare caetiferum, ne te premat aspera egestas, Desili, et a celsis corrue Cerne jugis."

"Much better 'tis to break thy neck, Or drown thyself i' the sea, Than suffer irksome poverty; Go make thyself away."

A Sybarite of old, as I find it registered in [2286]Athenaeus, supping in Phiditiis in Sparta, and observing their hard fare, said it was no marvel if the Lacedaemonians were valiant men; "for his part, he would rather run upon a sword point (and so would any man in his wits,) than live with such base diet, or lead so wretched a life." [2287]In j.a.ponia, 'tis a common thing to stifle their children if they be poor, or to make an abortion, which Aristotle commends. In that civil commonwealth of China, [2288]the mother strangles her child, if she be not able to bring it up, and had rather lose, than sell it, or have it endure such misery as poor men do.

Arn.o.bius, _lib. 7, adversus gentes_, [2289]Lactantius, _lib. 5. cap. 9._ objects as much to those ancient Greeks and Romans, "they did expose their children to wild beasts, strangle, or knock out their brains against a stone, in such cases." If we may give credit to [2290]Munster, amongst us Christians in Lithuania, they voluntarily manc.i.p.ate and sell themselves, their wives and children to rich men, to avoid hunger and beggary; [2291]

many make away themselves in this extremity. Apicius the Roman, when he cast up his accounts, and found but 100,000 crowns 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 Louvain that, being dest.i.tute of means, became both melancholy, and in a discontented humour ma.s.sacred 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 persuaded but as [2292]Ventidius in the poet, he should die a beggar. In a word, thus much I may conclude of poor men, that though they have good [2293]parts they cannot show or make use of them: [2294]_ab inopia ad virtutem obsepta est via_, 'tis hard for a poor man to [2295]

rise, _haud facile emergunt, quorum virtutibus obstat res angusta domi_.

[2296]"The wisdom of the poor is despised, and his words are not heard."

Eccles. vi. 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.

"Nulla placere diu, neque vivere carmina possunt, Quae scribuntur atquae potoribus."------

"No verses can please men or live long that are written by water-drinkers."

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. [2297]_Sapiens crepidas sibi nunquam nec soleas fecit_, a wise man never cobbled shoes; as he said of old, but how doth he prove it? I am sure we find it otherwise in our days, [2298] _pruinosis horret facundia pannis_. Homer himself must beg if he want means, and as by report sometimes he did [2299]"go from door to door, and sing ballads, with a company of boys about him." This common misery of theirs must needs distract, make them discontent and melancholy, as ordinarily they are, wayward, peevish, like a weary traveller, for [2300] _Fames et mora bilem in nares conciunt_, still murmuring and repining: _Ob inopiam morosi sunt, quibus est male_, as Plutarch quotes out of Euripides, and that comical poet well seconds,

[2301] "Omnes quibus res sunt minus secundae, nescio quomodo Suspitiosi, ad contumeliam omnia accipiunt magis, Propter suam impotentiam se credunt negligi."

"If they be in adversity, they are more suspicious and apt to mistake: they think themselves scorned by reason of their misery:" and therefore many generous spirits in such cases withdraw themselves from all company, as that comedian [2302]Terence is said to have done; when he perceived himself to be forsaken and poor, he voluntarily banished himself to Stymphalus, a base town in Arcadia, and there miserably died.

[2303] ------"ad summam inopiam redactus, Itaque e conspectu omnium abiit Graeciae in terram ultimam."

Neither is it without cause, for we see men commonly respected according to their means, ([2304]_an dives sit omnes quaerunt, nemo an bonus_) and vilified if they be in bad clothes. [2305]Philophaemen the orator was set to cut wood, because he was so homely attired, [2306]Terentius was placed at the lower end of Cecilius' table, because of his homely outside. [2307]

Dante, that famous Italian poet, by reason his clothes were but mean, could not be admitted to sit down at a feast. Gnatho scorned his old familiar friend because of his apparel, [2308]_Hominem video pannis, annisque obsitum, hic ego illum contempsi prae me_. King Persius overcome sent a letter to [2309]Paulus Aemilius, the Roman general; Persius P. Consuli. S.

but he scorned him any answer, _tacite exprobrans fortunam suam_ (saith mine author) upbraiding him with a present fortune. [2310]Carolus Pugnax, that great duke of Burgundy, made H. Holland, late duke of Exeter, exiled, run after his horse like a lackey, and would take no notice of him: [2311]