That allworldy thingsare butmeere vanities. 287 with moll trouble and danger,fauing that men firiue who (hall afeetad higher on this ladder, and in the heate of their contention tread their fellowes under fecte,that they may rifebefore them? wherein what doe they ehe but behaue themfelueslike children, who goo together by the Bares, whilefl they contend one with another, who.fhall be king in theirplay? whereas within anhoure after the play being done,they areall againe equal!; or imagining a little hillock tobe a lirong fort, doe affault and defend it with as great skill and furie, asthough. the holdingofit werea matter of great importance; whereas after the contention is ceafed, it remaineth emptie, and is paffedby with ncgleél and con- tempt. And fo thefe ambitious men hauing propounded clack trifles as the cauleofthcir emulation and contention, and being by reafon of theirpride and felfeloue,impatient ofany foile,do withall earneftnes and eagernes flriue about them, not becaufe they thinke the things themfelues for which theycontend are worth their paines and labour, but becaufe if they doe not obtaine the viElorie, they thinke themfelues much difgraced,in that theyare not able tohaue their will. The like alto maybe Paidof riches; the competi- tion and earnefi purfuite whereof by fo many, addeth no (mall matter to the common opinion of their worthand e. flimation : for otherwife wherefore doe men fo greedily fcrape much more then is fufficient for themfelues, their charge, or any other good vfe wherein they haueanypur_ pole of imploying them, if they did not (meafuring their goodneffe by their goods) defire to bee better then other men,and therefore couet to excel! them in that which they thinke doth make them commendable,and more refpe&cd? Why doe they hoord them vp ingreat abundance,and like the dogge in the maunger neithervfe them themfelues, nor communicate them vnto anyother for their vfe andbenefit; but that in a kinde ofenuie and emulation they would ex. ceed all other in wealth, and bee accounted great by the large portion which they haue of thefe fmal! vanities? In a word, why doe they fo highlyvalue that which theyin- tend neuer to vfc cifit were not that they haue got them with
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