He suffers much, who for a dowry has
His body sold,—
as Euripides says; for he gets but small matters by it, and
those very uncertain. But to him who passes not through
much ashes, but through a certain regal pile of fire, being
perpetually short breathed, full of fear, and bathed in
sweat as if he had crossed the seas to and fro, she gives at
last a certain Tantalian wealth, which he cannot enjoy by
reason of the continual turmoil that encumbers him. For
that Sicyonian horse-courser was well advised, who presented the king of the Achaeans with a swift-footed mare,
That to proud Ilium's siege he might not go,1
but stay at home and take his pleasure, wallowing in the
[p. 500]
depth of his riches, and giving himself up to an unmolested
ease.
But those who now seem to be without trouble and men
of action do, without being called to it, thrust themselves
headlong into the courts of princes, where they must be
obliged to tedious attending and watching, that they may
gain an horse, a chain, or some such blessed favor.
In the mean time the wife, of joy bereft,
Sits tearing her fair cheeks, the house is left
Imperfect and half built;—
whilst the husband is drawn and hurried about, wandering
amongst others, allured by hopes of which he is often
disappointed, suffering disgrace and same. But if he
happens to obtain any of those things he so eagerly desires,
after he has been turned about and made dizzy with being
Fortune's sport, he seeks a dismission, and declares those to
be happy who live obscure and safe; whilst they, in the
mean time, have the same opinion of him whom they see
mounted so far above them.
