Essay V: Of Adversity |
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Essay V: Of Adversity
Essay V: Of Adversity
It was a high speech of Seneca (after the manner of the Stoics), that the
good things which belong to prosperity are to be wished; but the good things
that belong to adversity are to be admired. Bona rerum secundarum optabilia;
adversarum mirabilia. Certainly if miracles be the command over nature, they
appear most in adversity. It is yet a higher speech of his than the other
(much too high for a heathen), It is true greatness to have in one the
frailty of a man, and the security of a God. Vere magnum habere fragilitatem
hominis, securitatem Dei. This would have done better in poesy, where
transcendences are more allowed. And the poets indeed have been busy with it;
for it is in effect the thing which figured in that strange fiction of the
ancient poets, which seemeth not to be without mystery; nay, and to have some
approach to the state of a Christian; that Hercules, when he went to unbind
Prometheus (by whom human nature is represented), sailed the length of the
great ocean in an earthen pot or pitcher; lively describing Christian
resolution, that saileth in the frail bark of the flesh through the waves of
the world. But to speak in a mean. ^1 The virtue of prosperity is temperance;
the virtue of adversity is fortitude; which in morals is the more heroical
virtue. Prosperity is the blessing of the Old Testament; adversity is the
blessing of the New; which carrieth the greater benediction, and the clearer
revelation of God`s favor. Yet even in the Old Testament, if you listen to
David`s harp, you shall hear as many hearse-like airs as carols; and the
pencil of the Holy Ghost hath labored more in describing the afflictions
of Job than the felicities of Solomon. Prosperity is not without many fears
and distastes; and adversity is not without comforts and hopes. We see in
needleworks and embroideries, it is more pleasing to have a lively work upon
a sad ^2 and solemn ground, than to have a dark and melancholy work upon a
lightsome ground: judge therefore of the pleasure of the heart by the
pleasure of the eye. Certainly virtue is like precious odors, most fragrant
when they are incensed or crushed: for prosperity doth best discover ^3 vice,
but adversity doth best discover virtue.
[Footnote 1: In moderation]
[Footnote 2: Dark-colored.]
[Footnote 3: Display.]
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