Equal is the government of heaven in allotting pleasures among men, And just the everlasting law, that hath wedded happiness to virtue: For verily on all things else broodeth disappointment with care, That childish man may be taught the shallowness of earthly enjoyment. Wherefore, ye that have enough, envy ye the rich man his abundance? Wherefore, daughters of affluence, covet ye the cottager's content? Take the good with the evil, for ye all are pensioners of God, And none may choose or refuse the cup His wisdom mixeth. The poor man rejoiceth at his toil, and his daily bread is sweet to him: Content with present good, he looketh not for evil to the future: The rich man languisheth with sloth, and findeth pleasure in nothing, He locketh up care with his gold, and feareth the fickleness of fortune. Can a cup contain within itself the measure of a bucket? Or the straitened appetites of man drink more than their fill of luxury? There is a limit to enjoyment, though the sources of wealth be boundless: And the choicest pleasures of life lie within the ring of moderation. Also, though penury and pain be real and bitter evils, I would reason with the poor afflicted, for he is not so wretched as he seemeth. What right hath an offender to complain, though others escape punishment, If the stripes of earned misfortune overtake him in his sin? Wherefore not endure with resignation the evils thou canst not avert? For the coward pain will flee, if thou meet him as a man: Consider, whatever be thy fate, that it might and ought to have been worse, And that it lieth in thy hand to gather even blessing from afflictions: Bethink thee, wherefore were they sent? and hath not use blunted their keenness? Need hope, and patience, and courage, be strangers to the meanest hovel? Thou art in an evil case, it were cruel to deny to thee compassion, But there is not unmitigated ill in the sharpest of this world's sorrows: I touch not the sore of thy guilt; but of human griefs I counsel thee, Cast off the weakness of regret, and gird thee to redeem thy loss: Thou hast gained, in the furnace of affliction, self-knowledge, patience, and humility, And these be as precious ore, that waiteth the skill of the coiner: Despise not the blessings of adversity, nor the gain thou hast earned so hardly, And now thou hast drained the bitter, take heed that thou lose not the sweet.