and alteration; and that is it, which the nature of the universe
doth most delight in, by which, and according to which,
whatsoever is done, is well done. For that was the estate
of worldly things from the beginning, and so shall it ever be.
Or wouldest. thou rather say, that all things in the world have gone
ill from the beginning for so many ages, and shall ever go ill?
And then among so many deities, could no divine power be found
all this while, that could rectify the things of the world?
Or is the world, to incessant woes and miseries, for ever condemned?
XXXIV. How base and putrid, every common matter is! Water, dust, and from
the mixture of these bones, and all that loathsome stuff that our
bodies do consist of: so subject to be infected, and corrupted.
And again those other things that are so much prized and admired,
as marble stones, what are they, but as it were the kernels
of the earth? gold and silver, what are they, but as the more
gross faeces of the earth? Thy most royal apparel, for matter,
it is but as it were the hair of a silly sheep, and for colour,
the very blood of a shell-fish; of this nature are all other things.
Thy life itself, is some such thing too; a mere exhalation
of blood: and it also, apt to be changed into some other
common thing. XXXV. Will this querulousness, this murmuring,
this complaining and dissembling never be at an end? What then
is it, that troubleth thee? Doth any new thing happen unto thee?
What doest thou so wonder at? At the cause, or the matter?
Behold either by itself, is either of that weight and moment indeed?
And besides these, there is not anything. But thy duty towards
the Gods also, it is time thou shouldst acquit thyself of it
with more goodness and simplicity.