Vel nos in mare proximum, Gemmas & lapides, aurum & inutile, Summi materiam mali Mittamus, scelerum si bene pœnitet.

Zeno the Philosopher lost all his goods by shipwrack, he might like of it, fortune had done him a good turne: Opes à me, animum auferre non potest: She can take away my means, but not my minde. He set her at defiance ever after, for she could not rob him that had naught to lose: for he was able to contemn more then they could possess or desire.

Alexander sent an hundred talents of gold to Phocion of Athens for a present, because he heard he was a good man: but Phocion returned his talents back again with a permitte me in posterum virum bonum esse, to be a good man still; let me be as I am:

Non mi aurum posco, nec mi precium ——

That Theban Crates flung of his own accord his money into the Sea, abite nummi, ego vos mergam, ne mergar à vobis, I had rather drown you, then you should drown me. Can Stoicks and Epicures thus contemn wealth, and shall not we that are Christians?

It was mascula vox & præclara, a generous speech of Cotta in Sallust, Many miseries have happened unto me at home, and in the wars abroad, of which by the help of God some I have endured, some I have repelled, and by mine own valour overcome: courage was never wanting to my designes, nor industry to my intents; prosperity or adversity could never alter my disposition.

A wise mans minde as Seneca holds, is like the state of the world above the moon, ever serene. Come then what can come, befall what may befall, infractum invictumque animum opponas: Rebus angustis animosus atque fortis appare. (Hor. Od. 11. lib. 2.)

Hope and Patience are two soveraigne remedies for all, the surest reposals, the softest cushions to lean on in adversity;

Durum sed levius fit patientiâ, Quicquid corrigere est nefas.

If it cannot be helped, or amended, make the best of it; necessitati qui se accommodat, sapit, he is wise that suits himself to the time. As at a game at tables, so do by all such inevitable accidents.

Ita vita est hominum quasi cum ludas tesseris, Si illud quod est maxime opus jactu non cadit, Illud quod cecidit forte, id arte ut corrigas;

If thou canst not fling what thou wouldest, play thy cast as well as thou canst. Every thing saith Epictetus hath two handles, the one to be held by, the other not: ’tis in our choice to take and leave whether we will (all which Simplicius his Commentator, hath illustrated by many examples) and ’tis in our own power, as they say, to make or mar our selves.

Conforme thy self then to thy present fortune, and cut thy coat according to thy cloth, Ut quimus (quod aiunt) quando quod volumus non licet. Be contented with thy losse, state and calling whatsoever it is, and rest as well satisfied with thy present condition in this life:

Esto quod es; quod sunt alii, sine quemlibet esse; Quod non es, nolis; quod potes esse, velis.

Be as thou art; and as they are, so let Others be still; what is and may be covet.

And as he that is invited to a feast, eats what is set before him, and looks for no other, enjoy that thou hast, and aske no more of God then what he thinks fit to bestow upon thee. Non cuivis contingit adire Corinthum, we may not be all Gentlemen, all Cato’s, or Lælii, as Tully telleth us, all honourable, illustrious and serene, all rich; but because mortall men want many things, Therefore, saith Theodoret, hath God diversly distributed his gifts, wealth to one, skill to another, that rich men might encourage and set poor men a work, poor men might learn severall trades to the common good.

As a peece of Arras is composed of severall parcels, some wrought of silke, some of gold, silver, crewell of divers colours, all to serve for the exornation of the whole: Musick is made of divers discords and keyes, a totall summ of many smal numbers: so is a Common-wealth of severall inequal trades and callings.

If all should be Crœsi and Darii, all idle, all in fortunes equall, who should till the land? As Menenius Agrippa well satisfied the tumultuous rout of Rome, in his elegant Apologue of the belly and the rest of the members: Who should build houses, make our severall stuffs for raiments? We should all be starved for company, as Poverty declared at large in Aristophanes Plutus, and sue at last to be as we were at first.

And therefore God hath appointed this inequality of States, orders and degrees, a subordination, as in all other things. The earth yields nourishment to vegetals, sensible creatures feed on vegetals, both are substitutes to reasonable souls, and men are subject amongst themselves, and all to higher powers, so God would have it.

All things then being rightly examined and duly considered as they ought, there is no such cause of so generall discontent, ’tis not in the matter it self, but in our minde, as we moderate our passions and esteem of things. Nihil aliud necessarium ut sis miser (saith Cardan) quam ut te miserum credas, Let thy fortune be what it will, ’tis thy minde alone that makes thee poor or rich, miserable or happy.

Vidi ego (saith divine Seneca) in villa hilari & amœna mæstos, & mediâ solitudine occupatos; non locus sed animus facit ad tranquillitatem. I have seen men miserably dejected in a pleasant Village, and some again, well occupied and at good ease in a solitary desart. ’Tis the mind, not the place causeth tranquillity, and that gives true content.