y Alexander, drank puddle
water to quench his thirst, and it was pleasanter, he swore, than any wine
or mead. All excess, as [3705]Epictetus argues, will cause a dislike; sweet
will be sour, which made that temperate Epicurus sometimes voluntarily
fast. But they being always accustomed to the same [3706]dishes, (which are
nastily dressed by slovenly cooks, that after their obscenities never wash
their bawdy hands) be they fish, flesh, compounded, made dishes, or
whatsoever else, are therefore cloyed; nectar's self grows loathsome to
them, they are weary of all their fine palaces, they are to them but as so
many prisons. A poor man drinks in a wooden dish, and eats his meat in
wooden spoons, wooden platters, earthen vessels, and such homely stuff: the
other in gold, silver, and precious stones; but with what success? _in auro
bibitur venenum_, fear of poison in the one, security in the other. A poor
man is able to write, to speak his mind, to do his own business himself;
_locuples mittit parasitum_, saith [3707]Philostratus, a rich man employs a
parasite, and as the major of a city, speaks by the town clerk, or by Mr.
Recorder, when he cannot express himself. [3708]Nonius the senator hath a
purple coat as stiff with jewels as his mind is full of vices; rings on his
fingers worth 20,000 sesterces, and as [3709]Perox the Persian king, an
union in his ear worth one hundred pounds weight of gold: [3710]Cleopatra
hath whole boars and sheep served up to her table at once, drinks jewels
dissolved, 40,000 sesterces in value; but to what end?

[3711] "Num tibi cum fauces urit sitis, aurea quaeris
Pocula?"------

Doth a man that is adry desire to drink in gold? Doth not a cloth suit
become him as well, and keep him as warm, as all their silks, satins,
damasks, taffeties and tissues? Is not homespun cloth as great a
preservative against cold, as a coat of Tartar lamb's-wool, died in grain,
or a gown of giant's beards? Nero, saith [3712]Sueton., never put on one
garment twice, and thou hast scarce one to put on? what's the difference?
one's sick, the other sound: such is the whole tenor of their lives, and
that which is the consummation and upshot of all, death itself makes the
greatest difference. One like a hen feeds on the dunghill all his days, but
is served up at last to his Lord's table; the other as a falcon is fed with
partridge and pigeons, and carried on his master's fist, but when he dies
is flung to the muck-hill