Brewer's: What we Gave we Have, What we Spent we Had, What we Had we Lost

Epitaph of the Good Earl of Courtenay. (Gibbon: History of the Courtenay Family.)

The epitaph in St. George's church, Doncaster, runs thus:

How now, who is here? I, Robin of Doncastere And Margaret, my feere. That I spent, that I had; That I gave, that I have; That I left, that I lost.

This is a free translation of Martial's distich -

Extra fortunam est quidquid donatur amicis Quas dederis, solas semper habebis opes.
Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894
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