rist. _SPV_ But I thinke the _Epicures_ bee
more nerer and agree rather with the _Cynickes_, then with
the Christien sorte: forsoth ye Christiens make them selues
leane || with fastynge, bewayle and lament their offences,
and eyther they bee nowe poore, or elles theyr charitie and
liberalitie on the nedye maketh theim poore, thei suffer
paciently to bee oppressed of mene that haue great power and
take many wronges at their handes, and many men also laughe
theim too skorne. Nowe, if pleasure brynge felicitie wyth
it, or helpe in anye wyse vnto the furderaunce of vertue:
we see playnly that this kynde of lyfe is fardest from al
pleasures. _Hedonius._ But doo you not admitte _Plautus_ too
bee of authoritie? _Speudeus._ Yea, yf he speake vprightely.
_Hedonius._ Heare nowe them, and beare awaye wyth you the
saiynge of || an vnthriftie seruaunt, whyche is more wyttier
then all the paradoxes of the Stoickes. _SPE._ I tarie
to heare what ye wil say. _HEDO._ Ther is nothyng more
miserable then a mynd vnquiet & agreued with it selfe.
_SPE._ I like this saiyng well, but what doo you gather of
it? _HEDO._ If nothing bee more miserable the an vnquiet
mynde, it foloweth also, that there is nothing happiar, then
a mynde voyde of all feare, grudge, and vnquietnes. _SPEV._
Surely you gather the thing together with good reaso but
that notwithstandynge, in what countrie shall you fynde any
such mynde, that knoweth not it selfe gyltie and culpable in
some kynde of euell, _HEDO._ || I call that euyll, whiche
dissolueth the pure loue and amitie betwixt God and manne.
_SPV._ And I suppose there bee verye fewe, but that thei bee
offeders in this thynge. _HEDO._ And in good soth I take it,
that al those that bee purdged, are clere: whych wiped out
their fautes with lee of teares, and saltpeter of sorowfull
repentaunce, or els with the fire of charitie, their offeces
nowe bee not only smalle grefe and vnquietnes too them, but
also chaunce ofte for some more godlier purpose, as causing
the too lyue afterward more accordyngly vnto Gods
commaudemetes. _SPV._ In deede I knowe saltpeter and lee,
but yet I neuer hearde before, that faultes || haue been
purdged with fire. _H._ Surely, if you go to the minte you
shall see gould fyned wyth fyre, notwithstadyng that ther
is also, a certaine kynde of line that brenneth not if it
bee cast in ye fyre, but loketh more whiter then any water
coulde haue made it, & therefore it is called _Linum
asbestinum_,