their pomp vanished, our memory may flourish:

[3765] ------"dant perennes
Stemmata non peritura Musae."

Let him be my lord, patron, baron, earl, and possess so many goodly
castles, 'tis well for me [3766]that I have a poor house, and a little
wood, and a well by it, &c.

"His me consolor victurum suavius, ac si
Quaestor avus pater atque meus, patruusque fuissent."

"With which I feel myself more truly blest
Than if my sires the quaestor's power possess'd."

I live, I thank God, as merrily as he, and triumph as much in this my mean
estate, as if my father and uncle had been lord treasurer, or my lord
mayor. He feeds of many dishes, I of one: [3767]_qui Christum curat, non
multum curat quam de preciosis cibis stercus conficiat_, what care I of
what stuff my excrements be made? [3768]"He that lives according to nature
cannot be poor, and he that exceeds can never have enough," _totus non
sufficit orbis_, the whole world cannot give him content. "A small thing
that the righteous hath, is better than the riches of the ungodly," Psal.
xxxvii. 19; "and better is a poor morsel with quietness, than abundance
with strife," Prov. xvii. 7. Be content then, enjoy thyself, and as [3769]
Chrysostom adviseth, "be not angry for what thou hast not, but give God
hearty thanks for what thou hast received."

[3770] "Si dat oluscula
Mensa minuscula
pace referta,"

"Ne pete grandia,
Lautaque prandia
lite repleta."

But what wantest thou, to expostulate the matter? or what hast thou not
better than a rich man? [3771]"health, competent wealth, children,
security, sleep, friends, liberty, diet, apparel, and what not," or at
least mayst have (the means being so obvious, easy, and well known) for as
he inculcated to himself,

[3772] "Vitam quae faciunt beatiorem,
Jucundissime Martialis, haec sunt;
Res non parta labore, sed relicta,
Lis nunquam," &c.

I say again thou hast, or at least mayst have it, if thou wilt thyself, and
that which I am sure he wants, a merry heart. "Passing by a village in the
territory of Milan," saith [3773]St. Austin, "I saw a poor beggar that had
got belike his bellyful of meat, jesting and merry; I sighed, and said to
some of my friends that were then with me, what a deal of trouble, madness,
pain and grief do we sustain and exaggerate unto ourselves, to get that
secure happiness which this poor b