a reproach? am I the worse for it? am I contemptible for it? am I to be reprehended?  A learned man in [3725] Nevisanus was taken down for sitting amongst gentlemen, but he replied, “my nobility is about the head, yours declines to the tail,” and they were silent.  Let them mock, scoff and revile, ’tis not thy scorn, but his that made thee so; “he that mocketh the poor, reproacheth him that made him,” Prov. xi. 5. “and he that rejoiceth at affliction, shall not be unpunished.”  For the rest, the poorer thou art, the happier thou art, ditior est, at non melior, saith [3726]Epictetus, he is richer, not better than thou art, not so free from lust, envy, hatred, ambition.

       “Beatus ille qui procul negotiis
        Paterna rura bobus exercet suis.”

Happy he, in that he is [3727]freed from the tumults of the world, he seeks no honours, gapes after no preferment, flatters not, envies not, temporiseth not, but lives privately, and well contented with his estate;

       “Nec spes corde avidas, nec curam pascit inanem
        Securus quo fata cadant.”

He is not troubled with state matters, whether kingdoms thrive better by succession or election; whether monarchies should be mixed, temperate, or absolute; the house of Ottomans and Austria is all one to him; he inquires not after colonies or new discoveries; whether Peter were at Rome, or Constantine’s donation be of force; what comets or new stars signify, whether the earth stand or move, there be a new world in the moon, or infinite worlds, &c.  He is not touched with fear of invasions, factions or emulations;

[3728] “Felix ille animi, divisque simillimus ipsis,
        Quem non mordaci resplendens gloria fuco
        Solicitat, non fastosi mala gaudia luxus,
        Sed tacitos sinit ire dies, et paupere cultu
[3729] Exigit innocuae tranquilla silentia vitae.

       “A happy soul, and like to God himself,
        Whom not vain glory macerates or strife. 
        Or wicked joys of that proud swelling pelf,
        But leads a still, poor, and contented life.”

A secure, quiet, blissful state he hath, if he could acknowledge it.  But here is the misery, that he will not take notice of it; he repines at rich men’s wealth, brave hangings, dainty fare, as [3730]Simonides objected to Hieron, he hath all the pleasures of the world, [3731]_in lectis eburneis dormit, vinum phialis bibit, optimis unguentis delibuitur_, “he knows not the affliction of Joseph, stretching himself on ivory beds, and singing to the sound of the viol.”  And it troubles him that he hath not the like:  there is a difference (he grumbles) between Laplolly and Pheasants, to tumble i’ th’ straw and lie in a down bed, betwixt wine and water, a cottage and a palace.  “He hates nature” (as [3732]Pliny characterised him) “that she hath made him lower than a god, and is angry with the gods that any man goes before him;”