Wealth

And yet I knew the houses and tables of the wealthy, not only of private men, but also of satraps and kings, who then seemed to me most wretched — having seemed so before, but still more now, as I looked upon the poverty and freedom there, and saw that they fell short in nothing, not even of the pleasure of eating and drinking, but in these too they had well-nigh the advantage.

Is it, then, very fitting to admire wealth according to the poet, and to suppose that truly enviable which he says is its greatest good — to give to strangers, and, if ever some come living delicately to the house, not to be unable to provide lodging and to set before them hospitality in which they would most delight?

It is, at all events, plain that wealth contributes nothing great either toward strangers or otherwise to those who possess it, but on the contrary is wont for the most part to make them niggardly and parsimonious rather than poverty does.

The Life of Money-making is a constrained kind of life, and clearly wealth is not the Good we are in search of, for it is only good as being useful, a means to something else.

Ordinary people identify it with some obvious and visible good, such as pleasure or wealth or honor—some say one thing and some another, indeed very often the same man says different things at different times:

And a similar uncertainty surrounds the conception of the Good, because it frequently occurs that good things have harmful consequences:

Yet, I think, it is fitting neither to long for wealth when it is absent, nor, when it is present, to take pride in possessing it rather than in knowing how to dispose of it well.

" And I admire too the contempt of Diogenes for all human things together—he who showed himself richer even than the Great King, by needing fewer things than that king for his life.

"No limit of wealth lies revealed for men.

By nature He declares unjust every possession which a man holds for himself as his own, and does not lay out in common for those in need;

Or what is even more free from reproach—if he was straightway settled by God, who apportions fortune, into a household of such men, and into a family abounding in money and prevailing in wealth?

Let it teach the well-to-do that they must neither neglect their own salvation as though already condemned beforehand, nor again sink wealth in the deep, nor condemn it as a plotter and enemy against life, but learn in what manner and how wealth is to be used and life acquired.

once they possessed greater wealth than any other Hellenic people, but they spent it all for love of honor;

that drinking-cups and censers, if very numerous, attach to their owners a sort of reputation for wealth, but that, if a man takes pride in trifles, instead of winning some honor by them, he is disdained as a man of vulgar tastes.

To dedicate those buildings they did not tithe themselves, nor fulfil the imprecations of their enemies by doubling the income-tax, nor was their policy ever guided by such advisers as you.

Queen Earth, all bounteous giver of honey-hearted wealth, how kindly, it seems, you are to some, and how intractable and rough for those with whom you are angry.

wealth will make a house great, and reverend princes seated in assembly are a goodly sight for the folk to see.

Open of yourselves, you doors, for mighty Wealth will enter in, and with Wealth comes jolly Mirth and gentle Peace.

He has made his accusation in this manner, thinking that his extravagant assertions about me and my wealth and the great number of my pupils would arouse the envy of all his hearers, while my alleged activities in the law-courts would stir up your anger and hate;

and that I have received from them and am now receiving enormous sums of money.

But you have heard also from my accuser that I have received many great presents from Nicocles, the king of the Salaminians.

Consider that the making of money unjustly will produce, not wealth, but danger.

Consider that you will pass on to your children the greatest and surest wealth if you can leave them my good will.

I am astonished that those who hold the view to which I have just referred do not rail also against wealth and strength and courage;

and that another thing, as an idea, for example, was not wealth, simply because the mind could perceive it without using any material instruments.

or whether it be regarded, as other ideas may be, simply as a means to be used for acquiring other wealth, intellectual, moral, affectional, or material.

Mankind, in their dealings with each other, in their purchases, and in their sales, both tacitly and expressly acknowledge and act upon the principle, that a thought is wealth;

They declare the specific wealth of a Kṣatriya also to be of three kinds:

Wealth acquired through learning, valor, austerity, a maiden, a pupil, a sacrificial fee, or inheritance is the sevenfold white wealth;

Inherited property, a gift of love, and what is received with a wife—these three kinds of wealth are common to all classes without distinction.

Valuable wealth may be roughly divided into two classes—that which is directly or immediately useful (pleasure-giving), and that which is directly or mediately useful.

These latter have value, because by combining them with other kinds of wealth we obtain a product which is more valuable than the elements from which it is created.

Now, all valuable wealth is appropriated—belongs to somebody.

And so it looks to me, said Pheraulas, as if I had more trouble now through possessing much than I used to have from possessing little.

For you must enjoy your riches much more, I think, for the very reason that it was only after being hungry for wealth that you became rich.

The pleasure that the possession of wealth gives, my good Sacian, said Pheraulas, is not nearly so great as the pain that is caused by its loss.

because I am about to go and get him to make me a loan—of his contentment with his lot, schooled as I am by Homer to count Seven pots unfired, ten talents’ weight of gold, A score of gleaming cauldrons, chargers twelve, weighing and calculating until I am never done with yearning for vast riches;

And as for me, I am now niggardly to no one, but both make an open display of my abundance to all my friends and share my spiritual wealth with any one of them that desires it.

Now, as for my situation in our commonwealth, when I was rich, I was, to begin with, in dread of some one’s digging through the wall of my house and not only getting my money but also doing me a mischief personally;