And if there be so many
diseases, how great will be the number of other misfortunes that
may befall our possessions, our friends, and even our mind
itself, that target of all evils, and trysting-place of sorrow
and every ill!

And these evils increase in power and intensity as a man rises to
higher rank and dignity;[15] in which estate he must needs dread
every moment the coming of poverty, disgrace, and every
indignity, which may indeed swiftly overtake him, for they all
hang by but a slender thread, not unlike the sword which the
tyrant Dionysius suspended above the head of the guest at his
table.

And if none of these evils befall us, we should count it our
gain, and no small comfort in the evil that does befall us; so
that we should feel constrained to say with Jeremiah, "It is of
the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed." [Lam. 3:22 f.] For
when none of them befall us, it is because they have been kept
from us by the right hand of the Most High that compasses us
about with such mighty power (as we see in Job) that Satan and
all evils can but gnash their teeth in helpless rage. [Job 1:10]
From this we see how sweetly we ought to love our Lord, whenever
any evil comes upon us. For our most loving Father would by that
one evil have us see how many evils threaten us and would fall on
us, if He did not Himself stand in the way, as though He said,
"Satan and the host of evils have desired to have thee, to sift
thee as wheat; [Luke:22:31] but I have marked out bounds for the
sea, and have said, Hitherto shaft thou come, and here shall thy
proud waves be stayed [Job 38:10]," as He saith in Job xxxviii.

And, granted that perchance, if God please, none of these things
will come upon you; nevertheless, that which is known as the
greatest of terrors, death, is certain to come, and nothing is
less certain than the hour of its coming. Truly, this is so
great an evil that there are many who would rather live on amid
all the above-named evils than to die once and have them ended.
With this one thing the Scriptures, which hold all others in
contempt, associate fear, saying, "Remember thy end, and thou
shalt never do amiss." [Ecclus. 7:40] Behold, how many
meditations, how many books, how many rules and remedies have
been brought together, in order, by calling to men's minds this
one evil, to keep them from sin, to render the world
contemptible, to lighten suffering, to comfort the
afflicted,--all by a comparison with th