a world for such a life:  the remembrance of it is pleasant.  Be silent then, [3584]rest satisfied, desine, intuensque in aliorum infortunia solare mentem, comfort thyself with other men’s misfortunes, and as the mouldwarp in Aesop told the fox, complaining for want of a tail, and the rest of his companions, tacete, quando me occulis captum videtis, you complain of toys, but I am blind, be quiet.  I say to thee be thou satisfied.  It is [3585]recorded of the hares, that with a general consent they went to drown themselves, out of a feeling of their misery; but when they saw a company of frogs more fearful than they were, they began to take courage, and comfort again.  Compare thine estate with others. Similes aliorum respice casus, mitius ista feres.  Be content and rest satisfied, for thou art well in respect to others:  be thankful for that thou hast, that God hath done for thee, he hath not made thee a monster, a beast, a base creature, as he might, but a man, a Christian, such a man; consider aright of it, thou art full well as thou art. [3586]_Quicquid vult habere nemo potest_, no man can have what he will, Illud potest nolle quod non habet, he may choose whether he will desire that which he hath not.  Thy lot is fallen, make the best of it. [3587]"If we should all sleep at all times,” (as Endymion is said to have done) “who then were happier than his fellow?” Our life is but short, a very dream, and while we look about [3588]_immortalitas adest_, eternity is at hand:  [3589]"Our life is a pilgrimage on earth, which wise men pass with great alacrity.”  If thou be in woe, sorrow, want, distress, in pain, or sickness, think of that of our apostle, “God chastiseth them whom he loveth:  they that sow in tears, shall reap in joy,” Psal. cxxvi. 6.  “As the furnace proveth the potter’s vessel, so doth temptation try men’s thoughts,” Eccl. xxv. 5, ’tis for [3590]thy good, Periisses nisi periisses:  hadst thou not been so visited, thou hadst been utterly undone:  “as gold in the fire,” so men are tried in adversity. Tribulatio ditut:  and which Camerarius hath well shadowed in an emblem of a thresher and corn,

       “Si tritura absit paleis sunt abdita grana,
        Nos crux mundanis separat a paleis:” 

       “As threshing separates from straw the corn,
        By crosses from the world’s chaff are we born.”

’Tis the very same which [3591]Chrysostom comments, hom. 2. in 3 Mat. “Corn is not separated but by threshing, nor men from worldly impediments but by tribulation.”  ’Tis that which [3592]Cyprian ingeminates, Ser. 4. de immort. ’Tis that which [3593]Hierom, which all the fathers inculcate, “so we are catechised for eternity.”  ’Tis that which the proverb insinuates. Nocumentum documentum; ’tis that which all the world rings in our ears. Deus unicum habet filium sine peccato, nullum sine flagello:  God, saith [3594]Austin, hath one son without sin, none without