And there are some things which carry a contrariety
in their nature, and cannot be consistent. As for instance, the study of the mathematics and practice in oratory
are exercises which require a great leisure and freedom
from other concerns; but the intrigues of politics cannot
be managed, and the favor of princes cannot be attained or
cultivated, without severe application and being involved in
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affairs of high moment. Then the indulging ourselves to
drink wine and eat flesh makes the body strong, but it
effeminates the mind. Industry to acquire and care to preserve our wealth do infinitely increase it; but the contempt
of riches is the best refreshment in our philosophic journey.
Hence it is very manifest that there is a wide difference in
things, and that we ought to obey the inscription of the
Pythian oracle, that every man should know himself, that
he should not constrain his genius but leave it to its own
propensions, and then that he should apply himself to that
to which he is most adapted, and not do violence to Nature
by dragging her perforce to this or that course of life.
With generous provender they the horse do feed,
That he may win the race with strength and speed.
The mighty ox is fitted to the yoke,
And by his toil the fertile clods are broke.
The dolphin, when a ship he doth espy,
Straight the good-natured fish his fins doth ply;
By the ship's motion he his own doth guide,
And lovingly swims constant to her side.
And if you'd apprehend the foaming boar,
The monster by a mastiff must be tore.
1
But he is stupid in his wishes who takes it amiss that he
is not a lion,
Who with a proud insulting air doth tread,
Rough as the mountains where he first was bred;
2
or that he is not a Malta-shock, delicately brought up in the
lap of a fond widow. He is not a jot more rational who
would be an Empedocles, a Plato, or a Democritus, and write
about the universe and the reality of things therein, and
at the same time would sleep by the dry side of an old
woman, because she is rich, as Euphorion did; or be admitted
to debauch with Alexander amongst his club of drunkards,
as Medius was; or be concerned that he is not in as high a
vogue of admiration as Ismenias was for his riches and Epaminondas for his virtue. For those who run races do not
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think they have injury done them if they are not crowned
with those garlands which are due to the wrestlers, but they
are rather transported with joy at their own rewards.
‘Sparta has fallen to thy lot; honor and adorn her.’ Solon
hath expressed himself to this purpose:—
Virtue for sordid wealth shall not be sold;
It's beauty far outshines the miser's gold.
This without Fortune's shocks doth still endure;
But that's possession is insecure.
3
And Strato, who wrote of physics, when he heard that
Menedemus had a great number of scholars, asked: What
wonder is it, if more come to wash than to be anointed?
And Aristotle, writing to Antipater, declared, that Alexander was not the only one who ought to think highly of
himself because his dominion extended over many subjects,
since they had a right to think as well of themselves who
entertained becoming sentiments of the Gods. So that, by
having a just opinion of our own excellences, we shall be
disturbed with the less envy against those of other men.
But now, although in other cases we do not expect figs from
the vine nor grapes from the olive-tree, yet, if we have not
the complicated titles of being rich and learned, philosophers in the schools and commanders in the field, if we
cannot flatter, and have the facetious liberty to speak what
we please, nay, if we are not counted parsimonious and
splendid in our expenses at the same time, we grow uneasy
to ourselves, and despise our life as maimed and imperfect.
Besides, Nature seems to instruct us herself; for, as she
ministers different sorts of food to her animals, and hath
endowed them with diversity of appetites,—some to eat
flesh, others to pick up seed, and others to dig up roots for
their nourishment,—so she hath bestowed upon her rational
creatures various sorts of accommodations to sustain their
being. The shepherd hath one distinct from the ploughman;
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the fowler hath another peculiar to himself; and the
fourth lives by the sea. So that in common equity we
ought to labor in that vocation which is appointed and most
commodious for us, and let alone the rest; and so not to
prove that Hesiod fell short of the truth when he spake
after this manner:—
The potter hates another of the trade
If by his hands a finer dish is made;
The smith his brother smudge with scorn doth treat,
If he his iron strikes with brisker heat.
4
And this emulation is not confined to mechanics and
those who follow the same occupations; but the rich man
envies the learned. He that hath a bright reputation
envies the miser's guineas, and the pettifogger thinks he is
outdone in talking by the sophister. Nay, by Heaven, he
that is born free sottishly admires the servile attendance of
him who is of the household to a king; and the man
that hath patrician blood in his veins calls the comedian
happy who acts his part gracefully and with humor, and
applauds even the mimic who pleaseth with farce and
scaramouchy gestures; thus by a false estimate of happiness they disturb and perplex themselves.
