oms, families,
an [1834]incurable disease; Budaeus, an ill habit, [1835]"yielding to no
remedies:" neither Aesculapius nor Plutus can cure them: a continual
plague, saith Solomon, and vexation of spirit, another hell. I know there
be some of opinion, that covetous men are happy, and worldly, wise, that
there is more pleasure in getting of wealth than in spending, and no
delight in the world like unto it. 'Twas [1836]Bias' problem of old, "With
what art thou not weary? with getting money. What is most delectable? to
gain." What is it, trow you, that makes a poor man labour all his lifetime,
carry such great burdens, fare so hardly, macerate himself, and endure so
much misery, undergo such base offices with so great patience, to rise up
early, and lie down late, if there were not an extraordinary delight in
getting and keeping of money? What makes a merchant that hath no need,
_satis superque domi_, to range all over the world, through all those
intemperate [1837]Zones of heat and cold; voluntarily to venture his life,
and be content with such miserable famine, nasty usage, in a stinking ship;
if there were not a pleasure and hope to get money, which doth season the
rest, and mitigate his indefatigable pains? What makes them go into the
bowels of the earth, an hundred fathom deep, endangering their dearest
lives, enduring damps and filthy smells, when they have enough already, if
they could be content, and no such cause to labour, but an extraordinary
delight they take in riches. This may seem plausible at first show, a
popular and strong argument; but let him that so thinks, consider better of
it, and he shall soon perceive, that it is far otherwise than he supposeth;
it may be haply pleasing at the first, as most part all melancholy is. For
such men likely have some _lucida intervalla_, pleasant symptoms
intermixed; but you must note that of [1838]Chrysostom, "'Tis one thing to
be rich, another to be covetous:" generally they are all fools, dizzards,
madmen, [1839]miserable wretches, living besides themselves, _sine arte
fruendi_, in perpetual slavery, fear, suspicion, sorrow, and discontent,
_plus aloes quam mellis habent_; and are indeed, "rather possessed by their
money, than possessors:" as [1840]Cyprian hath it, _mancipati pecuniis_;
bound prentice to their goods, as [1841]Pliny; or as Chrysostom, _servi
divitiarum_, slaves and drudges to their substance; and we may conclude of
them all, as [1842]Valerius doth of Ptol