'Tis generally so, Tempora si fuerint nubila, solus eris, he is left cold and comfortless, nullas ad amissas ibit amicus opes, all flee from him as from a rotten wall, now ready to fall on their heads. Prov. xix. 1. Poverty separates them from their [2270]neighbours. [2271]Dum fortuna favet vultum servatis amici, Cum cecidit, turpi vertitis ora fuga.
Whilst fortune favour'd, friends, you smil'd on me, But when she fled, a friend I could not see.
Which is worse yet, if he be poor [2272]every man contemns him, insults over him, oppresseth him, scoffs at, aggravates his misery. [2273]Quum caepit quassata domus subsidere, partes In proclinatas omne recumbit onus.
When once the tottering house begins to shrink, Thither comes all the weight by an instinct.
Nay they are odious to their own brethren, and dearest friends, Pro. xix. 7. His brethren hate him if he be poor, [2274]omnes vicini oderunt, his neighbours hate him, Pro. xiv. 20, [2275]omnes me noti ac ignoti deserunt, as he complained in the comedy, friends and strangers, all forsake me. Which is most grievous, poverty makes men ridiculous, Nil habet infelix paupertas durius in se, quam quod ridiculos homines facit, they must endure [2276]jests, taunts, flouts, blows of their betters, and take all in good part to get a meal's meat: [2277]magnum pauperies opprobrium, jubet quidvis et facere et pati. He must turn parasite, jester, fool, cum desipientibus desipere; saith [2278]Euripides, slave, villain, drudge to get a poor living, apply himself to each man's humours, to win and please, &c., and be buffeted when he hath all done, as Ulysses was by Melanthius [2279]in Homer, be reviled, baffled, insulted over, for [2280]potentiorum stultitia perferenda est, and may not so much as mutter against it. He must turn rogue and villain; for as the saying is, Necessitas cogit ad turpia, poverty alone makes men thieves, rebels, murderers, traitors, assassins, because of poverty we have sinned, Ecclus. xxvii. 1, swear and forswear, bear false witness, lie, dissemble, anything, as I say, to advantage themselves, and to relieve their necessities: [2281] Culpae scelerisque magistra est, when a man is driven to his shifts, what will he not do? [2282]———si miserum fortuna Sinonem Finxit, vanum etiam mendacemque improba finget.