52                              OF ADVERSITY.

better tune. "Shall we," saith he, "take good at
God's hands, and not be content to take evil
also T And so of friends, in a proportion. This is
certain, that a man that studleth revenge keeps his
own wounds green, which otherwise would heal and
do well. Public revenges are, for the most part,
fortunate ; as that for the death of Caesar, for the
death of Pertinax, for the death of Henry the Third
of France, and many more. But in private revenges
it is not so ; nay, rather, vindictive persons live the
life of witches, who, as they are mischievous, so end
they unfortunate.
 

V.

OF ADVERSITY.

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
ferum secundarum^  optabilia;  adversarum mirabilia.