“Este quod es; quod sunt alii, sine quamlibet esse;
        Quod non es, nolis; quod potus esse, velis.”

       “Be as thou art; and as they are, so let
        Others be still; what is and may be covert.”

And as he that is [3832]invited to a feast eats what is set before him, and looks for no other, enjoy that thou hast, and ask no more of God than what he thinks fit to bestow upon thee. Non cuivis contingit adire Corinthum, we may not be all gentlemen, all Catos, or Laelii, as Tully telleth us, all honourable, illustrious, and serene, all rich; but because mortal men want many things, [3833]"therefore,” saith Theodoret, “hath God diversely distributed his gifts, wealth to one, skill to another, that rich men might encourage and set poor men at work, poor men might learn several trades to the common good.”  As a piece of arras is composed of several parcels, some wrought of silk, some of gold, silver, crewel of diverse colours, all to serve for the exornation of the whole:  music is made of diverse discords and keys, a total sum of many small numbers, so is a commonwealth of several unequal trades and callings. [3834]If all should be Croesi and Darii, all idle, all in fortunes equal, who should till the land?  As [3835]Menenius Agrippa well satisfied the tumultuous rout of Rome, in his elegant apologue of the belly and the rest of the members.  Who should build houses, make our several stuffs for raiments?  We should all be starved for company, as Poverty declared at large in Aristophanes’ Plutus, and sue at last to be as we were at first.  And therefore God hath appointed this inequality of states, orders, and degrees, a subordination, as in all other things.  The earth yields nourishment to vegetables, sensible creatures feed on vegetables, both are substitutes to reasonable souls, and men are subject amongst themselves, and all to higher powers, so God would have it.  All things then being rightly examined and duly considered as they ought, there is no such cause of so general discontent, ’tis not in the matter itself, but in our mind, as we moderate our passions and esteem of things. Nihil aliud necessarium ut sis miser (saith [3836]Cardan) quam ut te miserum credas, let thy fortune be what it will, ’tis thy mind alone that makes thee poor or rich, miserable or happy. Vidi ego (saith divine Seneca) in villa hilari et amaena maestos, et media solitudine occupatos; non locus, sed animus facit ad tranquillitatem.  I have seen men miserably dejected in a pleasant village, and some again well occupied and at good ease in a solitary desert.  ’Tis the mind not the place causeth tranquillity, and that gives true content.  I will yet add a word or two for a corollary.  Many rich men, I dare boldly say it, that lie on down beds, with delicacies pampered every day, in their well-furnished houses, live at less heart’s ease, with more anguish, more bodily pain, and through their intemperance,