I Ioy in my flockes and heardes.

A brutishe ioy.

I abounde in heardes and flockes.

A beast∣ly prosperitie, whiche beastes haue procured.

I loue flockes and heardes.

In all loues, it is to be suspec∣ted, that there is some likelinesse betweene the louyng, and belo∣ued.

I loue heardes and flockes.

Ye loue euery thing sauing vertue, and one of you another: Those thinges which especially ought to be loued, ye care not for, & those thinges whiche ye shoulde not esteeme, ye loue.

I loue heardes and flockes.

O wretched louers of vile thynges, and haters of the woorthie? Ye loue those thynges whiche vnder∣stande not that they are loued, neyther are able to loue you againe, for you your selues doo not loue one another, nor loue them that loue you, and all this mischiefe commeth through couetousnesse, that you not onely preferre a bondslaue before a free borne man, but also a beast, before a reasonable creature.

I haue plentie of heardes, and flockes.

If thou feede them thy selfe, what other shalt thou be, then a most busie sheaphearde? A vile office, although it be praysed of many, specially of Catullus of Verona: but yf thou doo it by other, then thou art not the sheaphearde thy selfe, but seruaunt to thy sheapheardes, and layde open vnto their deceytes. Somtyme thou art indamaged by thy neyghbour, sometyme by fallyng from an hygh, sometyme by murreine, sometyme by theeues, sometyme by straying, euery day some excuse must be feigned, whereby thy losse, sorowe, and abuse doo growe: but the greatest griefe is, to be deceyued by a rude rustike varlet.

I am ryche in flockes and heardes.

Ryches are praysed, yet are they vncertayne, and sub∣iect to many chaunces, deceites, theft, murreines, whiche come so often, & are so hot, that many tymes they consume whole flockes, and dispearse whole heardes. Thou knowest the rotte whiche Lucretius described, and afterhym Virgil, with many other, whiche for the want of writers, are not set downe of lyke fame, and Page  [unnumbered]also as hurtfull.

I am ryche in flockes and heardes.

Wyde and large ryches, whiche can not onely not be comprehended in a coffer, as golde and precious stones, but also not within the compasse of a most great house, so that thou art not safe from seruauntes, nor from theeues, nor from cruel wilde beastes, for euery one hath power ouer thy goodes.

I reioyce in my heardes and flockes.

Thou shalt once reioyce, and be sorie a thousand times. There shall no day passe o∣uer thy head without some sorowful newes: Now the Sabeis are broken in, and haue taken away all that thou hast, and haue put thy seruauntes to the swoorde, as it was once in tyme past sayde to that good old man that was so ryche in cattel: As one tyme an Oxe hath broken his horne, at another time an Horse hath stray∣ned his legge, now a Woolfe hath deuoured a stragling Lambe, at another time the rotte hath inuaded the infected flocke. Wret∣ches, ye are not contented to beholde your owne miseries, and mortalitie, but that you must also bewayle the death of bruit beastes.