Classic Poem

With a long beard and broad, with hair untrim'd,
Coatlesse, and shoe-less, almost naked lim'd;
A wandring life you lead, as beasts do doe,
No certain place are you confin'd unto
On the bare ground, and in the open air
You rest your bones; the mantle which you wear,
Your only garment both for night and day,
Though rough and course, had worn it self away;
But by the dirt that does thereon abide,
Its gaping cranies daily are supply'd,
The earth and air both, you about you bear;
As earth 'tis dirty, and as thin as air;
Grave Sir, what may you be pray? Cynicus
Young man, why
Seems this so strange t'you? here you see live I
Content with what I can with ease obtain,
And without injury or danger gain;
What costs no grief, nor trouble, I can feed
And cloath my self withall, I nothing need,
But unconcern'd can pass by and deride
All, but what serves to nourish, warme, and hide
Pray tell me, do you think that vitiousness
Lies in superfluous luxury? L.
Surely yes. C.
And don't you judge frugality in men
To be a vertue too? L.
I do C.
Why, then
When you see me more thriftily to live
Then other men, and them their minds to give
To cost and dainties, can it justice be
To wink at those, and only censure me? L.
Alas Sir, 'tis not Thriftily you live,
But nigardly and basely God does give
With liberal hand his gifts, and with the same
We ought to take them, and we're much to blame
If we neglect them; for we shall make void
Those blessings, which he sends to be enjoyed.
You pine your self, make your enjoyment scant
By wilful affectation still to want,
And live in poverty C.
Therefore I pray,
Since we are gone so forward in the way;
Let's well consider, what by wanton's ment,
Or penury, and what's sufficient L.
Please you, let it be so. C.
Is that which can
Supply the just necessity of man,
Esteem'd sufficient? or d'you judge or know
A thing to be desired beyond that? L.
No. C.
May it be then call'd indigence or want,
Or poverty when men sufficient han't? L.
It may no doubt C.
Then I've sufficient, for I am without
No thing that should supply necessity
More I nor crave nor want. L.
How can that be? C.
You'll quickly know, if you do well perpend
And observe rightly, what's the proper end
Those things were made for, which you say we need.
Is not a house a shelter? L.
Yes indeed. C.
And are not garments coverings?
L. True, they be
C. Both these defend and cover us, that we,
Whom these do shelter and do cover so,
By their defence and warmth should better grow.
L. No question,
C. Do my feet now seem to you
The worse, because not cover'd from your view?
L. I know not truly
C. If you do not know,
Learn what's the office of the feet.
L. To go.
C. And do my feet go worse then others do?
L. Perhaps they don't.
C. Nay they do not, I know;
And since their office they performe as well
Naked as clad, why should the clad excel?
And for my body, why's not that as good
As other mens? if it were not, it wou'd
Be more diseas'd, infirm and weak then theirs
But no infirmity in mine appears;
And therefore since that health and strength do show
A bodies excellence, why's not mine so?
Does this appear diseased?
L. Not to me.
C. Therefore my feet or body cannot be
In want of other covering; for ne're doubt it,
If they did want, they'ld be the worse without it;
For want's a real evil to mankind;
What e're we need, we languish till we find
I thrive in body, and look fresh you see,
And sound and strong; my meat does nourish me.
That fare that's counted course and vile by you,
Makes me both strong and healthful
L. Very true.
C. Else how could aged I who've liv'd so long,
Remain so nimble, active and so strong?
Did I on dainties feed, and gayly go,
To pamper appetite as others do,
Dwingle and pine I should, like them whose food
Though twice more costly, is not half so good.
L. Perhaps you might
C. What reason then is there,
Why you should pass a censure so severe
Upon my way of living and esteem i.
Wretched and miserable?
L. I so deem it,
Because great nature (whom we all adore)
And the great Gods this spatious world did store,
With such variety of gifts, and those so good,
So excellent both for our ease and food,
In such abundance too, that they supply
Our coy delight as well's necessity,
And made all common as the world is, that
All might of all alike participate:
These blessings then we may, nay ought t'enjoy,
And not to be so overnice and coy
To slight them all, or all but very few,
As they're neglected by the beasts and you
Water you drink as beasts do, and you eate
What you next find, as dogs do drink and meat;
And lodging's all alike; to rest or feast,
You have no better pattern then the beast.
The ground's your common bed, and for your cloaths
They'r such as every beggar justly loaths.
You do content your self with things thus vile,
Thus poor, and thus contemptible; the while
Our bounteous God spreads his unwearied hand,
And with variety gluts sea and land;
Puts his fat cattle on our flowry plains,
And fructifies the teeming earth with rains;
Who makes returns in fruits such various store,
Nature her self doth seem embroyderd o're.
The tugging Bee brings her mellifluous juice,
Extracted from all flowers for mans use;
Oyle like a deluge overwhelms the ground,
And Amber floating on the sea is found;
Peoples the seas with fishes, and each field,
Groans as o're burdend with the corn they yield;
With various rare productions of such things
As our delight, and with't our wonder brings.
But above all the amorous fruitful Vine
Hugs the tall trees, and the heart-cheering Wine,
Blushes and swells in the plump grapes which be
Drunk with their own rare juyce; and why should we
B'endow'd with these abilities which we find
Do fill the body, and adorn the mind?
Why have we strength, and art, and wit, to frame
Such stately fabricks, but t'enjoy the same?
And why does Art such various things produce,
But for our ornament, delight and use?
If you do well in slighting these things thus,
God did not well in sending them to us.
Should you by any other be debar'd
Th'enjoyment of these things, how ill and hard
Would it appear t'you? it would vex your mind,
As much as if you're fetterd and confind.
Why then does your own self your self restrain,
And limit from them thus?
C. I should disdain
Indeed to be confin'd by other men,
And kept from these enjoyments so; but then
Hear me a little, let me ask you this;
Suppose a man that rich and bounteous is,
Should make a sumptuous feast, and should invite
Guests of all sorts, and please their appetite
With cheer of all sorts too; for strong men strong
Dishes; and for the weaker palats mix among
Some milder delicates, and fill his feast
To the degree and palate of each guest;
If 'mong the guests there should be one that wou'd
Snatch and devoure all that on th'table stood,
Reaching from end to end, though lusty and strong,
Yet eats those meats that to the weak belong;
Out-sits all others and out feeds 'um too,
Would you think this man temperate?
L. Surely no
Nor temperate, nor good.
C. But then suppose
Another person should neglect all those
Delicious junkets, and that costly fare,
And those inticing delicates that are
Superfluously invented to invite
To new attempts the sated appetite,
And placeth in one plain and wholesome dish,
All that he needs, and all that others wish,
And feeds but sparingly thereon, don't you
Think this a temperate man?
L. Indeed I do
And on just reason.
C. Do you apprehend
By what I say, what 'tis I do intend?
Or shall I tell you?
L. Pray explain your mind
C. God's this feast-Master, who of every kind
With store of various blessings has supply'd
Our various wants, and vast desires; beside
For healthy men and strong he doth provide,
Such diet as their health and strength can bide;
The sick and weak he doth with food supply
Apt for their sicknesse and infirmity:
Not that we all should upon all things feed;
But all have all things that they truly need:
Yet so enrag'd our vast desires still be,
And so insatiate is our mind, that we
Reach at and gripe what e're we meet withall;
And alwaies think what e're we have too small
I'appease our appetite that still aspires,
And new enjoyments breed but new desires.
The land and seas both contribute their store
To our fond wills, yet still we long for more.
What nature scatters with her lib'ral hand
O're the wide earth, we ransack for; no land,
No sea so dangerous, nor so far remote,
But we invade to fill the craving throat,
And oft neglect what's wholesome, and what's good,
Because 'tis easy, or 'tis common food;
Preferring things bought dearly, and fetcht far,
Before all such as in their nature are
Useful and good, as if their vertue were
Not to be good, but difficult and dear:
And therefore choosing rather to endure
A restless, then a quiet life and pure
Consider all those things, which you provide
To gratifie your humor, lust or pride:
Your stately buildings, costly furniture,
Imbroyderd garments, made to tempt the viewer;
Your gold and silver jewels and your rings,
And such unneedful and unuseful things,
For which you vainly ransack every nation,
Not for necessity, but ostentation;
With how much toyle, and how much danger they
Must be procur'd and purchas'd for you, nay
With how much blood and slaughter of poor men,
Whom your vain luxury does make so, when
They for their livelyhood must plow the seas,
And traverse forreign land meerly to please
Your pamperd appetites, and find their grave
I'th' bosome of an unrelenting wave;
Or if they scape the seas, they meet by land
Men crueller then waves, or rocks, or sand:
And when they are through dangers, costs and pains,
Purchas'd and brought, disturb our hearts and brains,
And cause dissentions, treacheries and blowes,
Murthers and thefts, frauds, rapines, make friends foes,
Make brothers brawle with brothers, and inspires
Sons with unnatural rage against their Sires;
Husbands destroy their Spowses, and the wives
Break off all bonds and snatch their husbands lives.
So did it make Euriphile of old
Basely betray her husband for his Gold
Yet when all's done, these costly garments can
Warme or defend or dignifie a man,
No more then those which only serve for use
Nor do your statly fabricks more conduce
Unto our shelter and protection then
Those humble Cottages, which old wise men
Built for necessity, to guard and warm's
Against the rage of rapine or of stormes.
Those spacious dishes, and vast goblets too
Wherein you riot, not for need, but shew,
Though beaten silver, or of massy gold,
Can't make the liquor better, which they hold,
Nor make the food more wholsome, nor more sweet,
Nor make you see the poyson you may meet
Subtly convey'd into them: Nor d'your heads
Or bodies rest more on your downy beds,
Nor sleep more soundly 'cause your bedsteads be
(What ere you dream) of gold or Ivory.
Nay we do often find, those men enjoy
More quiet and contented sleep, who lay
Their wearied bodies on the humble ground,
And with Heaven only canopyde around,
Then those can find, who roll their limbs in beds
Of down, or spread with Persian Coverleds;
Nor is their health, or strength the more, who eat
The most delicious, and most costly meat,
Then theirs whose diet is but mean and small,
To nourish and refresh themselves withall
We see the pamper'd bodies often wax
Tender, infirm, unfit for manly Acts.
Consumptive, full of pains and maladies,
Unknown by persons temperate and wise.
For luxury and sloath, how ere it pleases,
Serves but to feed Physitians and diseases.
Yet what a bustle do men make, what dust
To gratifie their palate, pride, and lust!
Nay which is more then this, so vile, so vain
Mens hearts are grown, and so corrupt their brain,
That they pervert the use of things, and bend
The Creatures use against the Creatures end.
L. Pray sir who do so?
C. You wh'abuse poor Men,
Although your fellow Creatures, and have been
Made of the self same matter, and inspir'd
With the same soul, and form, and have acquir'd
The same perfections too, and by their birth,
Have as good interest in what's here on Earth,
As the Great'st He; only by policy,
By fraud, or force kept in a low degree,
By those that property devis'd, and fram'd
Bounds for those things which nature free proclaim'd:
So brought degrees into the World, and so
Masters and Servants made, and high and low,
To gratifie Mens lazyness and pride.
Some must be serv'd, ador'd, and deifi'd,
Mounted in State and triumph, born along
On others shoulders, through th'adoring throng,
And the poor slaves are harness'd for that toyl,
And used like beasts; do asses work the while,
And those in highest honour with you stand,
Who most poor slaves can tread on and command.
But you blame me because I do despise,
And won't partake of such slight vanities,
But live content with what I do enjoy,
Not grasping superfluities that cloy,
And indispose the mind, and with them bring
Cares and vexations, which to them do cling;
Nor are they only difficult to gain,
But also in the enjoyment very vain.
You don't consider how few things, how small
A wise contented man may live withall,
With plentty and with comfort; all those things
We truly need are few and mean; this brings
Your scorn on me, to think or say at least
'Cause I live so, I live but like a beast.
But by that rule the Gods themselves would be,
('Cause they want nothing) veryer beasts then we.
Consider rightly and you'l clearly find,
Which is the best way to dispose your mind,
Or to want much, or little, 'tis the fate
Of the inferior, and the infirmer State,
To want more then the nobler and the strong;
Thus to weak infants do more wants belong
Then to th'adult; and thus sick persons do
Want more then healthfull; and the women too
Want more then men; and men want more then Gods,
For they want nothing. Therefore those, by ods,
Approach most neerly to the sacred choir,
Who want the least, and who the least desire.
Can you suppose great Hercules , that he
Whom noble acts proclaim'd a Deity,
Was in a wretched miserable case,
Because without a garment he did trace
Th'uneven Earth, and wandred up and down
Without a purple robe, or costly gown;
His body almost naked, only drest
In a rough skin tane from a slaughter'd beast;
Desiring none of all those trifles that
We vainly prize, and at so dear a rate?
Surely he could not miserable be
Who others did protect from misery;
Nor was he poor; his power did extend
To sea and Land; where ever he did bend
His force, he won the victory, and ne're
Met with his conquerour, nor with his Peer.
D'you think he wanted garments or such things,
Who conquer'd and commanded Lords and Kings?
'Tis not to be imagin'd; no he was
Content and sober in his mind; and as
He valour shew'd, he shew'd his temp'rance too,
And ne're indulg'd himself (as now men do)
With vain delights. Or what say you to me
Of Theseus his disciple? was not he
King of the Athenians , and most valiant too
Of all his stout contemporaries, who
By his renowned actions, justly won
The reputation of great Neptunes Son?
Yet was his body naked, his feet bare,
Nor did he shave his beard, or cut his hair,
His limbs were hard and hairie, and in that
He our bold Ancestors did imitate,
Who held a smooth and softly skin to be
An argument of Mens effeminacy;
And as their actions spoke them men, even so
Their plain and simple fashions shew'd them too;
They thought a beard mans natural ornament,
And Lyons too; and that the Mane was sent
For the same end to Horses; and there is
In both by nature plac'd a Comelynes,
A grace and ornament; these I propose
Unto my self to imitate, not those
Ridiculous men of this deluded age,
Whose undiscerning fancies do engage
Their fond desires to doat on Lushious fare
And gorgeous vain attire, and only there
Place their imaginary Happiness.
For my part I desire not, I profess,
My hough should differ from a horse, but be
Like Houghs as Chirons were, all's one to me
I am the nobler much and happier
That no more garments then the Lyons wear;
And that my palat does no more require
Or choyser delicates then Dogs desire;
No better Lodging then the Earth I crave,
And for my dwelling house the world I have;
And for my diet I provide such meat
As without cost or trouble I may eat
That Gold and silver bravely I despise,
From the desire whereof all ills arise,
That do befall Mankind; seditious jars,
Slaughters and treacheries, Rebellion, Wars,
Things that ne're touch my heart, who little have
Yet nothing want, nor more then little crave;
Thus stands the case with me; and now you know
Both my profession, and my practice too;
All which is different from Common strains,
And from the opinion of Vulgar brains,
From whom no wonder we in habit do
Differ, since we in Principles do too.
But I admire at you, who attribute
T'all sorts of Men their habit and their suit;
To th'Harper his peculiar garb, and so
To the Tragedian his; and yet you do
No habit of distinction yet devise
Or set apart for vertuous Men or wise,
But vainly think it fit that they should go
Apparel'd as the fools and Vulgar do,
A thing both ill and inconvenient too:
And certainly if any habit is
Proper for th'good and wise, 'tis such as this
I wear, which the luxurious Gallants hate,
And more then Vice scorn and abominate
My garment's course, and rough, and made of hair;
My hair's unshav'n, and both my feet are bare;
Yours are like Pathicks, spruce and finicall,
Effeminate Courtiers that cannot at all
Be from the rout distinguished or known,
Nor by your habits difference nor your own
Your garments soft like theirs, and gay like theirs,
You wear as many as the gallant wears:
As various too in colour and in shapes,
As Protean as Jove in all's escapes.
So gay your coats, and cloaks, so neat your shoes,
To trick and kemb your hair such art you use,
And so much time and cost thereon bestow,
To curle and powder't for the smel and show,
To tempt, and cheat each other, you that wou'd,
Have people think your happy, wise and good,
Outdo the Vulgar in these vanities,
Those Vulgar which so proudly you despise:
Yet you must grant that they don't come behind,
In parts of body, nor in gifts of mind,
The gay'st of you, but are as strong to toyle,
As stout to fight as you, whom lust can foyle,
And wanton pleasures conquer and subdue
As soon as those are least esteemd by you
You in your meat, drink, sleep, and your array,
Are as luxurious and vain as they;
You scorn forsooth to walk a foot, but will
By Beasts or by poor men be carry'd still,
Whil'st I without relenting can abide
Both heats and colds, and what ere can betide
Us mortals, and with equal mind I bear
All things that God sends down, what ere they are,
For which content you count me miserable,
Whereas you thriving worldlings are not able
So to compose your souls to be content
With your condition, but do still relent,
Vex, and repine in every State; all that
Is present you dislike, still aiming at
Things absent with great longing; when you lye
Cold in the winter you for Summer cry;
And when the Summers heat you do obtain,
You Summer loath, and winter court again.
Too hot still or too cold, like bodies ill,
You are repining and complaining still.
The same effects diseases in them do
Produce, Your Customes do beget in you:
'Twixt both this only difference we find,
They're in their bodies sick, you in your mind.
Yet not content that your own selves are so
Misled, you'd tempt and draw in others too
To these absurdities and ills, with which
You have perplext your lives, led by the itch
Of blind desire and custome, not the lawes
Of Reason and of Judgment; your lust drawes
And hurries you which way it will; you go
By violent motion, where you will or no.
Like to light bodies swimming on a stream,
Your lusts drive you, as does the torrent them;
Just as a Rider on an untam'd horse,
Is carry'd, not by's will, but th'horses force,
Can nor go where he please, nor get on's feet,
Whom if one should in his fierce hurry meet,
And ask him where he rides, if truth he sayes,
His answer must be Where my horse doth please
To the same question you must answer too,
Where your affections hurry you, you go
Pleasure sometimes, sometimes ambition drives,
And sometimes avarice does rule your lives;
Contrary passions work contrary wayes;
Fear this way, anger that way, all your dayes
You're tost like empty ships from this to that,
Desiring still, but ne're agreeing what
You are on many horses mounted, true,
All wild and all untamable by you;
You climb the craggy rocks, you cross the Seas,
Stick at no hard or dang'rous passages;
No Country so remote, no toyle so great,
No danger so apparent, cold or heat,
Or pain or hunger frights, or hinders you;
If your affections bid you go, you do:
While my contemned life keeps me at home
Safer, and quieter, then you that rome.
I can converse with whom I please, and do
What I (that is my reason) prompts me to;
The ignorant though rich, I can contemn,
And with a free-born mind slight theirs, and them
Th'intemp'rate, and effeminate from me fly,
Fearing my habit, and my gravity;
The wise, the modest, and the vertuous be
The sole companions and delight of me;
While I contemn the wanton Men and vain,
Whose glory's in their wealth, attire and train;
And bravely can their wealth and them deride,
And make my scorn, that which they make their pride
View but the Statues of the Gods and see
If they're not simple-habited like me
In the Barbarians Temples, or the Greeks
Who ere the Gods attire and fashion seeks,
Shall find their habit, and their beards, and hair,
Just as my hair, and beard, and habit are.
They are not painted, comb'd, nor trim'd like you,
No upper coat made to mislead our view:
But one loose simple vest like mine they do
Weare both to cover and adorn them too
Therefore henceforth do you slight me no more,
Nor yet upbraid me, as you've done before
For my plain habit, since the Gods prefer
It before all the rest, and for their wear
Make choice of this attire, and wisely do
Lead us by precept, and example too:
Which when thou'st ponder'd well, thou'lt find it then,
Better to be like Gods, then like vain Men.