[751] “Hic nuptarum insanit amoribus, hic puerorum.”

       “One burns to madness for the wedded dame;
        Unnatural lusts another’s heart inflame.”

[752]one is mad of hawking, hunting, cocking; another of carousing, horse-riding, spending; a fourth of building, fighting, &c., Insanit veteres statuas Damasippus emendo, Damasippus hath an humour of his own, to be talked of:  [753]Heliodorus the Carthaginian another.  In a word, as Scaliger concludes of them all, they are Statuae erectae stultitiae, the very statutes or pillars of folly.  Choose out of all stories him that hath been most admired, you shall still find, multa ad laudem, multa ad vituperationem magnifica, as [754]Berosus of Semiramis; omnes mortales militia triumphis, divitiis, &c., tum et luxu, caede, caeterisque vitiis antecessit, as she had some good, so had she many bad parts.

Alexander, a worthy man, but furious in his anger, overtaken in drink:  Caesar and Scipio valiant and wise, but vainglorious, ambitious:  Vespasian a worthy prince, but covetous:  [755]Hannibal, as he had mighty virtues, so had he many vices; unam virtutem mille vitia comitantur, as Machiavel of Cosmo de Medici, he had two distinct persons in him.  I will determine of them all, they are like these double or turning pictures; stand before which you see a fair maid, on the one side an ape, on the other an owl; look upon them at the first sight, all is well, but farther examine, you shall find them wise on the one side, and fools on the other; in some few things praiseworthy, in the rest incomparably faulty.  I will say nothing of their diseases, emulations, discontents, wants, and such miseries:  let poverty plead the rest in Aristophanes’ Plutus.

Covetous men, amongst others, are most mad, [756]they have all the symptoms of melancholy, fear, sadness, suspicion, &c., as shall be proved in its proper place,

       “Danda est Hellebori multo pars maxima avaris.”

       “Misers make Anticyra their own;
        Its hellebore reserved for them alone.”

And yet methinks prodigals are much madder than they, be of what condition they will, that bear a public or private purse; as a [757]Dutch writer censured Richard the rich duke of Cornwall, suing to be emperor, for his profuse spending, qui effudit pecuniam, ante pedes principium Electorum sicut aquam, that scattered money like water; I do censure them, Stulta Anglia (saith he) quae, tot denariis sponte est privata, stulti principes Alemaniae, qui nobile jus suum pro pecunia vendiderunt; spendthrifts, bribers, and bribe-takers are fools, and so are [758]all they that cannot keep, disburse, or spend their moneys well.