it was an 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. 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 needle-works and embroideries, it is more pleasing to have a lively work, upon a sad 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 vice, but adversity doth best discover virtue.
