Chapter II

But I would urge thee a little with Fortune's own speeches. Wherefore
consider thou if she asketh not reason. 'For what cause, O man, chargest
thou me with daily complaints? What injury have I done thee? What goods
of thine have I taken from thee? Contend with me before any judge about
the possession of riches and dignities; and if thou canst show that the
propriety of any of these things belong to any mortal wight, I will
forthwith willingly grant that those things which thou demandest were
thine. When Nature produced thee out of thy mother's womb, I received
thee naked and poor in all respects, cherished thee with my wealth, and
(which maketh thee now to fall out with me) being forward to favour
thee, I had most tender care for thy education, and adorned thee with
the abundance and splendour of all things which are in my power. Now it
pleaseth me to withdraw my hand, yield thanks, as one that hath had the
use of that which was not his own. Thou hast no just cause to complain,
as though thou hadst lost that which was fully thine own. Wherefore
lamentest thou? I have offered thee no violence. Riches, honours, and
the rest of that sort belong to me. They acknowledge me for their
mistress, and themselves for my servants, they come with me, and when I
go away they likewise depart. I may boldly affirm, if those things which
thou complainest to be taken from thee had been thine own, thou shouldst
never have lost them. Must I only be forbidden to use my right? It is
lawful for the heaven to bring forth fair days, and to hide them again
in darksome nights. It is lawful for the year sometime to compass the
face of the earth with flowers and fruits, and sometime to cover it with
clouds and cold. The sea hath right sometime to fawn with calms, and
sometime to frown with storms and waves. And shall the insatiable desire
of men tie me to constancy, so contrary to my custom? This is my force,
this is the sport which I continually use. I turn about my wheel with
speed, and take a pleasure to turn things upside down. Ascend, if thou
wilt, but with this condition, that thou thinkest it not an injury to
descend when the course of my sport so requireth. Didst thou not know my
fashion? Wert thou ignorant how Croesus, King of the Lydians, not long
before a terror to Cyrus, within a while after came to such misery that
he should have been burnt had he not been saved by a shower sent from
heaven?[103] Hast thou forgotten how Paul piously bewailed the
calamities of King Perses his prisoner?[104] What other thing doth the
outcry of tragedies lament, but that fortune, having no respect,
overturneth happy states? Didst thou not learn in thy youth that there
lay two barrels, the one of good things and the other of bad,[105] at
Jupiter's threshold? But what if thou hast tasted more abundantly of the
good? What if I be not wholly gone from thee? What if this mutability of
mine be a just cause for thee to hope for better? Notwithstanding, lose
not thy courage, and, living in a kingdom which is common to all men,
desire not to be governed by peculiar laws proper only to thyself.

[103] Cf. Herod, i. 87.

[104] Cf. Livy xlv. 8. Paul=Aemilius Paulus surnamed Macedonius for his
defeat of Perses last king of Macedonia in 168 B.C.

[105] _Il._ xxiv. 527.

II.

Si quantas rapidis flatibus incitus
Pontus uersat harenas
Aut quot stelliferis edita noctibus
Caelo sidera fulgent
Tantas fundat opes nec retrahat manum 5
Pleno copia cornu,
Humanum miseras haud ideo genus
Cesset flere querellas.
Quamuis uota libens excipiat deus
Multi prodigus auri 10
Et claris auidos ornet honoribus,
Nil iam parta uidentur,
Sed quaesita uorans saeua rapacitas
Altos[106] pandit hiatus.
Quae iam praecipitem frena cupidinem 15
Certo fine retentent,
Largis cum potius muneribus fluens
Sitis ardescit habendi?
Numquam diues agit qui trepidus gemens
Sese credit egentem.' 20

[106] altos _vulg._; alios _codd. opt._

II.

If Plenty as much wealth should give, ne'er holding back her hand,
As the swift winds in troubled seas do toss up heaps of sand,
Or as the stars in lightsome nights shine forth on heaven's face,
Yet wretched men would still accuse their miserable case.
Should God, too liberal of His gold, their greedy wishes hear,
And with bright honour them adorn; yet all that nothing were,
Since ravenous minds, devouring all, for more are ready still.
What bridle can contain in bounds this their contentless will,
When filled with riches they retain the thirst of having more?
He is not rich that fears and grieves, and counts himself but poor.'