for the
present as thou wouldst be, not respected as thou oughtest to be, by birth,
place, worth; or that which is a double corrosive, thou hast been happy,
honourable, and rich, art now distressed and poor, a scorn of men, a burden
to the world, irksome to thyself and others, thou hast lost all: _Miserum
est fuisse, felicem_, and as Boethius calls it, _Infelicissimum genus
infortunii_; this made Timon half mad with melancholy, to think of his
former fortunes and present misfortunes: this alone makes many miserable
wretches discontent. I confess it is a great misery to have been happy, the
quintessence of infelicity, to have been honourable and rich, but yet
easily to be endured: [3817]security succeeds, and to a judicious man a far
better estate. The loss of thy goods and money is no loss; [3818] "thou
hast lost them, they would otherwise have lost thee." If thy money be gone,
[3819]"thou art so much the lighter," and as Saint Hierome persuades
Rusticus the monk, to forsake all and follow Christ: "Gold and silver are
too heavy metals for him to carry that seeks heaven."

[3820] "Vel nos in mare proximum,
Gemmas et lapides, aurum et inutile,
Summi materiam mali
Mittamus, scelerum si hene poenitet."

Zeno the philosopher lost all his goods by shipwreck, [3821]he might like
of it, fortune had done him a good turn: _Opes a me, animum auferre non
potest_: she can take away my means, but not my mind. He set her at
defiance ever after, for she could not rob him that had nought to lose: for
he was able to contemn more than they could possess or desire. Alexander
sent a 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_[3822]--That Theban
Crates flung of his own accord his money into the sea, _abite nummi, ego
vos mergam, ne mergar, a vobis_, I had rather drown you, than you should
drown me. Can stoics and epicures thus contemn wealth, and shall not we
that are Christians? It was _mascula vox et praeclara_, a generous speech
of Cotta in [3823]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 designs, nor industry to my intents