University of Virginia Library

Argument.

Vertue by being opprest, is showne,
Those Wee thinke Miseries, are None.

Prosperitie, and happy Fortune, finds
Out base, Plebean, and ungenerous Minds:
But 'tis the Propertie of a Great Soule
Crosses and humane Terrors to controule.
To live still happy, and ne're feele no Smart,
Is not to know of life the other Part.
Thou'st a stout Man: But how shall this be knowne,
It by some Chance thy Valour be not showne?
But thou wilt say, thou went'st to play thy Prize
And wert at the Olimpicke Exercise;
But none besides thy selfe. The Garland gain'd
Thou hast, but not the Victory obtain'd.
Not as a strong Man thee I gratulate,
But as if one to the Pretorian State;
Or Consulship, that is arriv'd at length;
Thou art increast in Honour, not in strength.
The like to a good Man may be apply'd,
If by no Crosses, nor Afflictions dy'd.
I count thee wretched, that thou ne're were so.
If ne're in all thy Life thou knew'st a Foe,
None thy Abilities can judge; nor you
Your selfe; can tell what 'tis your selfe can doe.
Man to the knowledge of himselfe, must bring
Experiment all Proofes; Triall's the Thing
By which Wee learne our Strength. Some have bin known
Of their owne selves t'have sought Affliction;
That so their Vertues, without Exercise
Obscuring, might with renew'd splendour rise.
For in Adversitie Great Minds delight
No lesse, then Valiant Souldiers doe in Fight.
I'h've heard a Fencer in Great Caijus Raigne
Thus of the scarcenesse of Rewards complaine.
“How faire an Age, saith he, is lost and gone!
Vertu's with greedinesse to Perills is prone.
Her Race, not suff'rings, 'tis she minds: since those
Th' Accomplishments of Glory are she knowes.
Wounds are the Souldiers praise; who take a Pride
To shew their Armes in their owne Bloods bedy'd,
In some successefull Fight; And though perchance
That man as much might doe, as farre advance
Receiv'd no hurt, yet Wee the Wounded prize,
And he it is on whom Wee fix Our Eyes.
God as it were studies the good of those
To whom he some fit matter doth oppose
To try their Valours on. T'which we with paine
And difficulty sometimes scarce attaine.
A Pilot is in stormes and Tempests showne,
A Generall is in a Battell knowne.
How shall I know thou canst beare Poverty
When thou still flow'st with Riches? Whence shall I
Know with how constant, and compos'd a state
Thou canst brook slanders, and the Peoples Hate,
If in the Generall Plaudit thou grow old?
If an affection not to be controul'd
And popular opinion, and good Will
Inclin'd to favour thee, attend thee still?
How shall I know with what an even minde
Thou Childrens losse canst beare, if none thou finde
Of all thy Race impair'd? I h've heard thee, when
Thou comfort'st others; but would gladly then
Have seen thee to thy selfe like comfort give
Or heard thee then forbid thy selfe to grieve:
Be not possest with Terror of those things,
Which Gods apply as the Minds spurs, not stings.
Misfortune's vertues Opportunity.
All men those wretched thinke deservedly,
Who languish on the bed of Happinesse,
Benum'd with the Torpedo of Excesse.
Whom dull Tranquility, and stupid ease,
Detaine like Vessells in becalmed Seas.
What e're to such befalls, will strange appeare;
Men unexperienc'd, Crosses hardly beare.
With paine the Yoak the tender neck doth brook;
Pale at the thought of Wounds raw Tyro's looke.
When the old Souldier with a dauntlesse eye
Viewes his owne Wounds, nor turnes his Head awry.
As one, by whom that Maxime's understood
He oft proves Victor who resists to bloud.
Those then, whom God approves, and loves, he tries,
Chastens, and hardens in Adversities.
Whilst others; whom he seemes t'indulge and spare
For future Miseries reserved are
Thou err'st to thinke there's an exemption;
Ev'n the long happy hath his Portion:
Who seemes dismiss'd, is but deferr'd.

Object.

You'll say
Why yet does God still on the best Men lay
Sicknesse and Crosses?

Answ.

Why in Camps are put
Most dangers still, on the most resolute?
To beate up Quarters, Scout, or Enemies
By nightly Ambuscadoes to surprize,
The choicest still are sent; nor of those, one,
Thinks himselfe lesse in the Opinion
Of his Commander; or by that debas'd;
But that his Merits are more highly grac'd.
So may those say, who are those Ills design'd
T'endure, seem horrors to a timerous Minde;
“Worthy the love of Heav'n we now are meant,
“Which by our suff'rings would experiment
“How much t'is humane Nature can sustaine.
Fly from enerv'd Felicity, and vaine
Delights which as it were dissolve, and steep
Th' inebriated Minde in a long sleep.
Unlesse by chance some intervening Fate
A monitory give of humane state.
Whom still glasse Windowes skreen from cold and wind,
Whose feet still warm'd are kept; whose roomes are lin'd
With the stoves subtile circumfused Heate;
To such, the aires least breath doth danger threat.
Though all extreames doe hurt, there's no excesse
So dangerous as that of happinesse.
This foyles the understanding, and with vaine
Delusive Fancies does distract the Braine;
And 'fore our blinded eyes a mist doth send,
They cannot Truths from Falshoods apprehend.
Is it not then farre better to abide
Perpetuall Crosses which to vertue guide,
Then to be broken with th' excessive weight
Of a too great, and a too happy state?
To leaue, spare Bodies, Death scarce seems a paine;
Tormenting Crudities the the Grosse sustaine.
Heav'n with good men, observes the selfe same rule
As Masters doe with Schollers in the Schoole;
Who greater Paines, and harder Taskes on those
That are the hopefullest esteem'd, impose.
Think'st thou the Spartans lesse their children love
Cause they by publick stripes doe use to prove
Their youthfull dispositions? Parents there
Their Sons exhort with courage blowes to beare
Of lashing whips; and though halfe dead with paine,
To persevere, and wounds on wounds sustaine.
If God then, Generous spirits with severe
Rough Trialls proves, why should it strange appeare?
In all the Book of vertue there's not one
Soft Document, or easie lesson knowne.
With Fortunes whips though we be lasht, and rent,
Let's bear't; 'tis our Triall, not our Punishment.
Which the more often 'tis we undergoe
The more prepar'd, and harier still we grow.
Of all the body, that part's most obdur'd
And sollid, is to constant Toyle inur'd.
We should to Fortune be expos'd, that we
Against her selfe, arm'd by her selfe might be.
To be her equalls us in time she brings,
Contempt of dangers from try'd dangers springs.
So Mariners endure the Sea, and so
The Plow-mans hands with labour hard'ned grow.
So Souldiers learne to throw their Darts with force;
So Racers prove the nimbler for the Course:
Perfection and Solidity doth rise
From constant and assiduous exercise.
So is the Minde by Patience brought at last
Contempt upon the Power of Fate to cast.
Whose force we well may guesse upon the minde,
When how much labour can performe, we finde
In poore, and naked people, whom we see
Assuming strength ev'n from their poverty.
Do but consider all those Nations round,
Which to the Roman Peace, prescribe a bound;
I meane the Germans, and those People spread
Along the Banks of Ister to his Head.
To lowring skies, and Winters lasting cold
Subjected still; to whom the barren Mold
Scarce Food affords? to whom a Shed of Boughes
A homely shelter from the Raine allowes.
Who on the frozen Ister, or the Rhine
Doe slide, and on the hunted Quarry dine.
Dost count these men wretched in thy esteem?
No Natu'rall Habit can e're wretched seem:
Time by degrees does those things pleasant make,
Which from Necessity their Births did take.
No Houses there, no resting Place to those
But such as toyle, and wearinesse impose.
No food though vile, but what their Hands procure
Though horrid be their Climes intemperature,
Yet they goe naked; and this you suppose
A Misery, is yet the Life of those.
Why dost thou wonder if thou good men see
Shook with the stormes of Fortune? since that Tree
But weakly rooted is, nor solid growne,
Hath not the frequent shocks of Tempests knowne:
Which firmer still, and deeper rooting findes,
The more 'tis tost and vexed with the windes;
Whilst those which in the Sunny Valley grow
Are weak and brittle. Good men therefore, so
Are exercis'd in matters full of feare,
That they might terrors without terror beare:
And with calme Mindes, those things might undergoe
No Ills are, but those endure them so.