Of The Enviovs Poem by John Andrewes

Doe we not hold him mad, that in his hand
dare gripe an Adder, though he crush it dead?
or seemes it strange, if he by whom is fedde
A Lyons whelpe, or hath of Beares command.
Shall haue his bloud by them vntimely shed?
What shall we thinke him then that entertaines
a Viper next his heart, which from his vaines
Sucks his best bloud, and leaueth in the stead
A fretting poyson? whose effect is this,
It makes him grieue and rage at others good,
to stabbe himselfe to spill an others bloud,
And thinke himselfe curs'd in an others blisse.
Let him be gorg'd, euen to the very throate;
yet will he vexe to heare an other call
for a poore crust of bread; it frets his gall
To see a sayle belongs not to his boate.
If with the price of one of his owne eyes
he can buy both an other mans, hee'l doo't:
'Tis to be fear'd too, for a Soule to boote
Hee'l giue his owne to hell a sacrifice.
This is the man which from his mothers wombe
hath been peruerse and froward, whose vild life
is nourisht only by the breath of strife;
Which birth and breathing cannot want a roome
At last in hell; for he that trauells heere
(this Monster-like) with mischiefe, cannot finde
a place more suting to his diu'lish mind,
Then where his friends and father may be neere,
To be deliuer'd of his hell-bred seede:
for there some damn'd infernall Hagge or other
may be the Midwife, fit for such a mother
From whom (at best) some Fury must proceede.
This is the man who sits, and laughs to spie
where men do (Wolfe-like) by the throate, each other
teare: how th'inhumane brother kills the brother,
And by the hand of children, Parents die.
Where he perceiues an others downe-fall nigh,
He thirsts to see their ruine, more then they
whose high-flowne Falcons (watchfull for their prey)
Threatning to bring Destruction from the skie,
Long to behold the fearefull game strooke dead.
'Tis Enuies life, soule, summum bonum, all
which we tearm deere, to see an other fall,
Though't be the man that giues his hunger bread.
To see his neighbour fast is his best foode,
It makes him leane to see another fat;
He pines to nought, when he finds nought whereat
He may repine. To haue him vnderstood,
And to the full describ'd; thus in a word,
it grieues his staru'ling spirit more to see
An others good, then his owne miserie;
Though it cut deeper then Afflictions sword.