He that loveth pleasure [shall be] a poor man: he that loveth wine and oil shall not be rich.
Ver. 17. He that loveth pleasure, &c.] Luxury is attended by beggary. Pleasure may be had, but not loved. Isaac loved venison a little better haply than he should; Esau loved hunting, hence he grew profane, and though not a beggar, yet worse. The prodigal in the gospel "spent his substance with riotous living"; Luk 15:13 so did Apicius the Roman, who, hearing that there were seven hundred crowns only remaining of a vast estate that his father had left him, feared want, and hanged himself. a Marcus Livius, another goods waster, boasted when he died that he had left nothing for his heir, praeter coelum et caenum, more than air and mire. b Roger Ascham, schoolmaster to Queen Elizabeth, and her secretary for the Latin tongue, being too much addicted to dicing and cock fighting, lived and died a poor man. c
a Seneca.
b Valer.
c Camden's Elizab.