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Often appears with: justice as a virtue · rank, class, and social order · crime and punishment · fate, destiny, and necessity · the passions and the emotions · religious persecution and toleration · marriage and betrothal · conquest, plunder, and captives · ambition and the love of glory · pleasure, pain, and the good life · custom and the manners of a people · sin, guilt, and repentance
Usually: argument (66) · censure (57) · detachment (40) · indignation (38) · narrative (30) · temptation (30) · reflection (24) · exhortation (20) · skepticism (20) · injustice endured (18)
“Yes, I said; his life is motley and manifold and an epitome of the lives of many;--he answers to the State which we described as fair and spangled.” Plato, The Republic · vivid
“Consider, Sirs, how that in each estate Betwixte men and gold there is debate, So farforth that unnethes is there none.” Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales, and Other Poems · observation
“They did not consider that the value of those metals has, in all ages and nations, arisen chiefly from their scarcity, and that their scarcity has arisen from the very small quantities of them which nature has anywhere deposited in one place, from the hard and intractable substances with which she has almost everywhere surrounded those small quantities, and consequently from the labour and expense which are everywhere necessary in order to penetrate, and get at them.” Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth · insight
“Guglielmo replied forthwith:--"Paint Courtesy here;" which Messer Ermino had no sooner heard, than he was so stricken with shame that his disposition underwent a complete change.” Giovanni Boccaccio, The Decameron, Volume I · insight
“Following the common fallacy, which founds A different meaning upon different sounds?” Horace, The Satires, Epistles, and Art of Poetry of Horace · insight
“Steal but one bean, although the loss be small, / The crime's as great as if you stole them all.” Horace, The Satires, Epistles, and Art of Poetry of Horace · precept
“The wise and good, like Bacchus in the play, / When Fortune threats, will have the nerve to say: / "Great king of Thebes, what pains can you devise / The man who will not serve you to chastise?” Horace, The Satires, Epistles, and Art of Poetry of Horace · observation
“Duty! Thou sublime and mighty name that dost embrace nothing charming or insinuating, but requirest submission, and yet seekest not to move the will by threatening aught that would arouse natural aversion or terror, but merely holdest forth a law which of itself finds entrance into the mind, and yet gains reluctant reverence” Immanuel Kant, The Critique of Practical Reason · vivid
“But this I would say to you, dear my ladies, that whoso gives you tit, why, just give him tat; and if you cannot do it at once, why, bear it in mind until you can, that even as the ass gives, so he may receive.” Giovanni Boccaccio, The Decameron, Volume II · precept
“Most surely man is ungrateful to his Lord, And lo! in the love of wealth he is violent. Knoweth he not that, when what is in the graves is scattered abroad, And the secrets of the breasts are made known?” Ali, Abdullah Yusuf; Pickthall, Marmaduke William; Shakir, M. H., Three translations of the Koran (Al-Qur'an) side by · insight
“Woe to every (kind of) scandal-monger and-backbiter, Who pileth up wealth and layeth it by, Thinking that his wealth would make him last for ever!” Ali, Abdullah Yusuf; Pickthall, Marmaduke William; Shakir, M. H., Three translations of the Koran (Al-Qur'an) side by · observation
“Therefore covetousness, which is desire for money, is a capital vice.” Thomas, Aquinas, Saint, Summa Theologica, Part II-II (Secunda Secundae) · insight
Sura LXXIV “The Enwrapped” calls Muhammad to arise, warn, purify his garments, shun abomination, and patiently wait, while threatening Hell-fire and cursing a wealthy opponent who mocks the revelation as mortal magic.
It is merely the word of a mortal.” We will surely cast him into Hell-fire. And who shall teach thee what Hell-fire is? It leaveth nought, it spareth nought, Blackening the skin. Over it are nineteen angels. None but angels have we made guardians of the fire:4 nor have we made this to be their number but to perplex the unbelievers, and that they who possess the Scriptures may be certain of the truth of the Kora…
The passage tells the story of Korah’s arrogance and wealth, teaches that God causes the earth to swallow him and that reward comes to patient believers, ending with instructions to avoid aiding unbelievers and worship God alone.
out of every nation and say, "Bring your proofs." And they shall know that the truth is with God alone, and the gods of their own devising shall desert them. Now Korah23 was of the people of Moses: but he behaved haughtily toward them; for we had given him such treasure that its keys would have burdened a company of men of strength. When his people said to him, "Exult not, for God loveth not those who exult; But se…
Jesus tells parables of salt and seeking the lost, teaches joy over one repentant sinner, and narrates the prodigal son and the elder brother’s resentment, ending with the parable of the unjust steward.
and children, and brethren, and sisters, moreover and his own life, he cannot be my disciple. And whosoever bear not his cross, and come after me cannot be my disciple. Which of you is he that is disposed to build a tower, and sitteth not down before and counteth the cost: Whether he have sufficient to perform it? lest after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to perform it, all that behold it, begin to moc…
Jesus continues on stewardship and faithfulness, condemns covetous self-justification, warns against denying Moses and prophets, and teaches forgiveness, faith like mustard seed, and unprofitable-servant humility.
which sent him to his field, to keep his swine. And he would fain have filled his belly with the cods, that the swine ate: and no man gave him. Then he came to himself and said: how many hired servants at my father's have bread enough, and I die for hunger. I will arise, and go to my father, and will say unto him: father, I have sinned against heaven and before thee, now am I not worthy to be called thy son, make me…
Paul continues to Philippians, saying he counts former legal righteousness as loss to gain Christ, presses toward the goal, warns of enemies of the cross, and calls Euodias and Syntyche to be reconciled and to rejoice.
Pharisee, and as concerning ferventness I persecuted the congregation, and as touching the righteousness which is in the law I was such a one as no man could complain on. But the things that were winning unto me I counted loss for Christe's sake. Yee I think all things but loss for that excellent knowledge's sake of Christ Iesu my lord. For whom I have counted all thing loss, and do judge them but dung, that I might…
Douglass continues condemning slavery’s fraud by showing how masters manipulate slaves’ desires—using molasses and altered food allowances—to make them associate freedom or extra provision with abuse.
and marched to the field,—feeling, upon the whole, rather glad to go, from what our master had deceived us into a belief was freedom, back to the arms of slavery. I have said that this mode of treatment is a part of the whole system of fraud and inhumanity of slavery. It is so. The mode here adopted to disgust the slave with freedom, by allowing him to see only the abuse of it, is carried out in other things. For in…
Korah is portrayed as a wealthy, arrogant figure whose treasure leads to advice and condemnation; the earth swallows him and only the righteous are assured a “future mansion.”
out of every nation and say, "Bring your proofs." And they shall know that the truth is with God alone, and the gods of their own devising shall desert them. Now Korah23 was of the people of Moses: but he behaved haughtily toward them; for we had given him such treasure that its keys would have burdened a company of men of strength. When his people said to him, "Exult not, for God loveth not those who exult; But se…
After Messer Francesco Guinigi dies, Castruccio governs his son Pagolo, faces Guelph hostility from Giorgio degli Opizi, makes plans with Uguccione of Pisa, takes Lucca via San Piero gate, and joins wars against exiled Guelphs.
of his prudence and courage in this expedition, acquiring greater reputation than any other captain, and his name and fame were known, not only in Pavia, but throughout all Lombardy. Castruccio, having returned to Lucca in far higher estimation than he left it, did not omit to use all the means in his power to gain as many friends as he could, neglecting none of those arts which are necessary for that purpose. About…
He claims Spaniards sought extermination through unjust war and execution, with women and children spared for enslavement, driven by gold alone; he also cites extreme death tolls and describes Indians’ condemnation using a gold-melting punishment.
deny the good Nature praedominant in them) declare, that there was nothing wanting in them for the acquisition of Eternal Beatitude, but the sole Knowledge and Understanding of the Deity. The *Spaniards* first assaulted the innocent Sheep, so qualified by the Almighty, as is premention'd, like most cruel Tygers, Wolves and Lions hunger-starv'd, studying nothing, for the space of Forty Years, after their first landin…
He shifts to the mainland, saying that a Spanish governor arriving in 1514 aimed to populate the region with Spaniards, conducted raids deep into Darien and Nicaraqua, and used cruelty to extract gold.
Sword, Fire, Dogs and variety of Torments; of all which a Religious Man of the Order of St. _Francis, Franciscus de S. Romano_, who was then present was an Eye-Witness. Great and Injurious was the blindness of those praesided over the *Indians*; as to the Conversion and Salvation of this People: for they denyed in Effect what they in their flourishing Discourse pretended to, and declar'd with their Tongue what they …
The narrative concludes with a moral summary: Spaniards sailed to America for avarice and ambition to dominate and expel Castilian kings rather than for God, salvation, or lawful service.
and openly, others clancularly and secretly, so naturally addicted to Rob, Thieve and Steal; and thus under pretext of serving the King, they dishonour God, and defraud his Imperial Majesty. Here the Author having finished the matter of Fact in this Compendious History, for Confirmation of what he has here written, quotes a tedious and imperfect Epistle (as he styles it) beginning and ending anonymous withal, contai…
Plutarch recounts Solon’s meeting with Croesus: Solon refuses to flatter wealth, defines true happiness as lasting until life’s end, and distinguishes safe praise from premature certainty.
happy island while I sail, Let Cyprus send for me a favoring gale; May she advance, and bless your new command, Prosper your town, and send me safe to land. That Solon should discourse with Croesus, some think not agreeable with chronology; but I cannot reject so famous and well-attested a narrative, and, what is more, so agreeable to Solon's temper, and so worthy his wisdom and greatness of mind, because, forsooth,…
Timocreon and other critics attack Themistocles for money and for policies that upset friendships and justice, including granting returns to banished men; Themistocles responds with public works and a temple of Diana of Best Counsel, then faces ostracism.
reprehends him somewhat bitterly for being wrought upon by money to let some who were banished return, while abandoning himself, who was his guest and friend. The verses are these:-- Pausanias you may praise, and Xanthippus he be for, For Leutychidas, a third; Aristides, I proclaim, From the sacred Athens came, The one true man of all; for Themistocles Latona doth abhor The liar, traitor, cheat, who, to gain his fi…
Cominius praises Marcius and awards him a horse, but Marcius refuses most rewards and instead asks that a virtuous Volscian prisoner not be sold into slavery.
was not for conquerors, and joined with them in the pursuit. The rest of the Volscian army was in like manner defeated, great numbers killed, and no less taken captive. The day after, when Marcius, with the rest of the army, presented themselves at the consul's tent, Cominius rose, and having rendered all due acknowledgment to the gods for the success of that enterprise, turned next to Marcius, and first of all deli…
Plutarch weighs Nicias’s piety against possible vainglory, portraying him as fearful of divine powers and consulting diviners, especially about his Laurium silver mines and how his timidity benefits informers.
record of his bequest. This same palm-tree, afterwards broken down by the wind, fell on the great statue which the men of Naxos presented, and struck it to the ground. It is plain that much of this might be vainglory, and the mere desire of popularity and applause; yet from other qualities and carriage of the man, one might believe all this cost and public display to be the effect of devotion. For he was one of tho…
Crassus is portrayed as virtuous but dominated by avarice: his wealth growth via Sulla’s sale of confiscated goods and opportunistic real-estate buying during fires, plus his view of economy and serving as a way to manage people.
land a man, and understood that some desired more, "God forbid," said he, "that any Roman should think that too little which is enough to keep him alive and well." Crassus, however, was very eager to be hospitable to strangers; he kept open house, and to his friends he would lend money without interest, but called it in precisely at the time; so that his kindness was often thought worse than the paying the interest …
Plutarch contrasts Crassus's greed and political maneuvering with Pompey's martial glory, describes their rivalry and coexistence with Caesar, and notes Crassus’s shifting alliances among Rome’s three leading interests.
And this particularly was observed of him, that though he was the most covetous man in the world, yet he habitually disliked and cried out against others who were so. It troubled him to see Pompey so successful in all his undertakings; that he had had a triumph before he was capable to sit in the senate, and that the people had surnamed him Magnus, or the Great. When somebody was saying Pompey the Great was coming,…
Sancho argues that accepting luck is obligatory and presses for a future where Mari-Sancha becomes “your lordship’s” mother, while Teresa fears that rank will ruin her daughter through gossip and status anxiety.
among us; so don’t you go marrying her in those courts and grand palaces where they won’t know what to make of her, or she what to make of herself.” “Why, you idiot and wife for Barabbas,” said Sancho, “what do you mean by trying, without why or wherefore, to keep me from marrying my daughter to one who will give me grandchildren that will be called ‘your lordship’? Look ye, Teresa, I have always heard my elders say…
Ammianus continues listing common Roman vices: dice-playing as “sociable” friendship, schemes to get wealthy men to make wills, gambling rivalries, astrology, legal harassment, and profit-driven relationships in upper and lower classes.
20. Again, if any one having lately quitted the military service of the emperor, has retired to his home.[169] ... 21. Some of them, though not many, wish to avoid the name of gamblers, and prefer to be called dice-players; the difference being much the same as that between a thief and a robber. But this must be confessed that, while all friendships at Rome are rather cool, those alone which are engendered by dice a…
A moral-historical review contrasts Valentinian’s harsh justice and greed with exemplars of mercy, citing Achaemenid and Roman precedents, and condemning his cruelty, envy, and abuse of power.
his limbs were wholly dried up in consequence of some of the passages, which we now call hæmorrhoidal, were closed up and crusted over through the severity of the cold. 6. The emperor, from the exceeding violence of his agony, felt that the moment of his death was at hand; and attempted to say something, and to give some orders, as was indicated by a sobbing, which shook his whole frame, a gnashing of the teeth, and…
The author criticizes Valentinian’s relentless desire for wealth and envy, compares him unfavorably to Themistocles and notes Romans’ restraint under Marius and Cinna, then describes him being calmed into mercy by false rumors of barbarians.
to the safety of one other person was an honour to many; but that to have had no share in injuring others had never been thought discreditable to any one." 8. A desire of increasing his riches without any regard to right and wrong, and of hunting out every kind of source of gain, even at the cost of other people's lives, raged in this emperor to a most excessive degree, and never flagged. Some, indeed, attempted to …
By-ends contrasts himself with Hold-the-world, Money-love, and Save-all, arguing they rush in for God while he waits for “wind and tide” to secure his life and estate, then they ask Christian and Hopeful a corrupt question.
are righteous overmuch; and such men's rigidness prevails with them to judge and condemn all but themselves. But, I pray, what, and how many, were the things wherein you differed? BY-ENDS. Why, they, after their headstrong manner, conclude that it is duty to rush on their journey all weathers; and I am for waiting for wind and tide. They are for hazarding all for God at a clap; and I am for taking all advantages to …
Gibbon describes Roman senators’ wealth built on usury and luxury, contrasting their opulence with idle moral decline, and promising a more “authentic” account of Rome’s manners during the Gothic invasion using Ammianus Marcellinus.
born on the estate. Columella, who received this maxim from him, argues very judiciously on the subject. De Re Rustica, l. i. c. 7, p. 408, edit. Gesner. Leipsig, 1735.] The opulent nobles of an immense capital, who were never excited by the pursuit of military glory, and seldom engaged in the occupations of civil government, naturally resigned their leisure to the business and amusements of privat…
After Tepeaca and neighboring provinces submitted, Cortes ordered all captured slaves to be assembled and branded, reserving the emperor’s fifth and Cortes’ share, then extorting more gold, triggering soldier complaints.
_How all the slaves we had taken in Tepeaca, Quauhquechola, Tecalco, and Castilblanco, were brought together in our head-quarters, and branded with an iron, in his majesty's name._ After peace had thus been restored to the whole province, and the inhabitants had submitted to the sceptre of his majesty, Cortes, finding there was nothing further to be done at present, determined, with the crown officers, to ma…
He claims virtue is widely praised because it is profitable and socially beneficial, not because it is innately impressed by God, and he argues that self-interest drives outward moral professions even when actions contradict them.
6. Virtue generally approved not because innate, but because profitable. Hence naturally flows the great variety of opinions concerning moral rules which are to be found among men, according to the different sorts of happiness they have a prospect of, or propose to themselves; which could not be if practical principles were innate, and imprinted in our minds immediately by the hand of God. I grant the existence of G…
Locke argues that predominant passions overpower probabilities in love and greed, and that people evade contrary evidence either by claiming hidden fallacies in words or by pleading unknown arguments against them.
13. Two Means of evading Probabilities: 1. Supposed Fallacy latent in the words employed. First, That the arguments being (as for the most part they are) brought in words, THERE MAY BE A FALLACY LATENT IN THEM: and the consequences being, perhaps, many in train, they may be some of them incoherent. There are very few discourses so short, clear, and consistent, to which most men may not, with satisfaction enough to t…
Marco Polo describes the province of Tebet as vast, idol-worshipping, and very thieving, rich in gold-dust, cinnamon, coral, woollens, spices, and advanced sorcerers, then pivots to Caindu.
FURTHER DISCOURSE CONCERNING TEBET. This province, called Tebet, is of very great extent. The people, as I have told you, have a language of their own, and they are Idolaters, and they border on Manzi and sundry other regions. Moreover, they are very great thieves. The country is, in fact, so great that it embraces eight kingdoms, and a vast number of cities and villages.{1} It contains in several quarters rivers a…
Calvin reflects on providence in the Reformation, urges dependence on God amid uncertainty, and says he is alarmed by increasing security despite new offenses, including the “double marriage” affair.
When we weigh and consider carefully the whole course and progress of this work of Reformation, we shall find that himself had overruled, by wonderful methods, all the events in providence, without the advice or help of man, even contrary to all expectation. Upon this strength, therefore, which he has so often put forth in our behalf, let us, in the midst of so much perplexity, place our whole and entire dependence. …
Calvin warns Madame not to trust François’s doctrine, accusing him of preaching for profit, changing behavior to avoid trouble, and using Scripture to serve ambition rather than God.
her ability. Clement Marot addresses her in several of his poems, and the learned author, Lilio Gregorio Gyraldi, dedicates to her the second book of his *History of the Gods*. Touching Master François, to speak soberly, I would to a certainty put you upon your guard not to confide too unreservedly in his doctrine. Should I do so, I need have no reason to fear, that mayhap you may entertain some bad opinion of me, a…
Smith explains that merchants often buy and improve countryside lands because their money returns with profit, unlike country gentlemen who spend without expecting return, making merchants more spirited improvers.
becoming country gentlemen, and, when they do, they are generally the best of all improvers. A merchant is accustomed to employ his money chiefly in profitable projects; whereas a mere country gentleman is accustomed to employ it chiefly in expense. The one often sees his money go from him, and return to him again with a profit; the other, when once he parts with it, very seldom expects …
Smith argues gold- and silver-mining ventures are especially ruinous “lotteries,” because human greed overestimates success while metal value comes from scarcity, difficulty, and the costs of extracting it.
was any gold to be found there; and according to the information which they received concerning this particular, they determined either to quit the country or to settle in it. Of all those expensive and uncertain projects, however, which bring bankruptcy upon the greater part of the people who engage in them, there is none, perhaps, more perfectly ruinous than the search after new silver and gold m…
He compares ingratitude by princes and peoples, saying its roots are either avarice or suspicion; punishing or withholding rewards from a captain who gained victories for them brings “undying infamy.”
In connection with what has been said above, it seems proper to consider whether more notable instances of ingratitude are supplied by princes or peoples. And, to go to the root of the matter, I affirm that this vice of ingratitude has its source either in avarice or in suspicion. For a prince or people when they have sent forth a captain on some important enterprise, by succeeding in which he earns a great name, are…
Continuing the moral warning, Johnson lists motives driving deceit and injury—money-love, envy of others’ success, and incompatible temper—and concludes that prudent distrust is necessary.
justice, is to launch on the wide ocean without the instruments of steerage, and to hope that every wind will be prosperous, and that every coast will afford a harbour. To enumerate the various motives to deceit and injury, would be to count all the desires that prevail among the sons of men; since there is no ambition however petty, no wish however absurd, that by indulgence will not be enabled to overpower the inf…
Johnson generalizes from lottery-folly: people try to separate wealth from the evils and costs tied to it, chasing sudden fortune by chance, matches, and courtship; he narrates Leviculus’s series of failed fortune-hunting marriages.
The lust of wealth can never bear delay. IT has been observed in a late paper, that we are unreasonably desirous to separate the goods of life from those evils which Providence has connected with them, and to catch advantages without paying the price at which they are offered us. Every man wishes to be rich, but very few have the powers necessary to raise a sudden fortune, either by new discoveries, or by superiori…
Leviculus first pursues Flavilla unsuccessfully, then courts Altilia and toys with her older-family wealth, later targets Latronia, but is nearly saved only by servants’ revelations of debts and final collapse of his prospects.
to his lodgings at midnight in a chair, told with negligence and jocularity of bilking a tailor, and now and then let fly a shrewd jest at a sober citizen. Thus furnished with irresistible artillery, he turned his batteries upon the female world, and, in the first warmth of self-approbation, proposed no less than the possession of riches and beauty united. He therefore paid his civilities to Flavilla, the only daug…
A moral-argument passage claims that humans universally seek what is desired and will pursue praise through skill, artifice, merit, or crimes, contrasting true praise with paid flattery and self-praise.
decency of much importance, but admitted the danger of displeasing, and concluded that as he was now old and sickly, we might without any in convenience, wait for his death. With this resolution I was better contented, as it procured me the company of Flavilla, in which the days passed away amidst continual rapture; but in time I began to be ashamed of sitting idle, in expectation of growing rich by the death of my …
Johnson says writers should win readers by observing changing fashions in courtship, ambition, avarice, and idleness, while insisting that the underlying passions are few and endlessly recombined.
the continued industry of successive inquirers, new movements will be from time to time discovered, they can affect only the minuter parts, and are commonly of more curiosity than importance. It will now be natural to inquire, by what arts are the writers of the present and future ages to attract the notice and favour of mankind. They are to observe the alterations which time is always making in the modes of life, …
He ridicules the explanation that Jupiter is called Pecunia because all things belong to him, contrasting money with true wealth (wisdom and virtue) and inward poverty (greed).
"Almighty Jove, progenitor and mother?" And when in another place he says that Genius is the rational soul of every one, and therefore exists separately in each individual, but that the corresponding soul of the world is God, he just comes back to this same thing,--namely, that the soul of the world itself is to be held to be, as it were, the universal genius. This, therefore, is what he calls Jupiter. For if every …
After Bjorn the marshal retires on his farm, Canute and Hakon’s messengers offer him friendship and money if he abandons Olaf; though he hesitates, Bjorn accepts the silver, swears oaths to Canute and Hakon, and later regrets it when Hakon disappears.
198. OF KING OLAF. After King Olaf came to Russia he was very thoughtful, and weighed what counsel he now should follow. King Jarisleif and Queen Ingegerd offered him to remain with them, and receive a kingdom called Vulgaria, which is a part of Russia, and in which land the people were still heathen. King Olaf thought over this offer; but when he proposed it to his men they dissuaded him from settling himself there…
He adds an experiment about dependent fortunes: rivals develop hatred and partners develop love even without personal kinship, because parallel direction of affections from interest mirrors sympathy and comparison.
principles, should so totally mix together as to be undistinguishable? As to the connexion betwixt benevolence and love, anger and hatred, being original and primary, it admits of no difficulty. We may add to this another experiment, viz, that benevolence and anger, and consequently love and hatred, arise when our happiness or misery have any dependance on the happiness or misery of another person, without any farth…
Hume argues that jealousy of gain is the chief passion destructive of society, that other passions can be restrained, and that only redefining self-interest by stable possession can control acquisition.
naturally any such thing as a fixed right or property, while the opposite passions of men impel them in contrary directions, and are not restrained by any convention or agreement. No one can doubt, that the convention for the distinction of property, and for the stability of possession, is of all circumstances the most necessary to the establishment of human society, and that after the agreement for the fixing and o…
He explains worth as the price others would pay for one’s power, and links honour and dishonour to how one’s value is set relative to one’s self-esteem, not to an absolute measure.
Price. For let a man (as most men do,) rate themselves as the highest Value they can; yet their true Value is no more than it is esteemed by others. The manifestation of the Value we set on one another, is that which is commonly called Honouring, and Dishonouring. To Value a man at a high rate, is to Honour him; at a low rate, is to Dishonour him. But high, and low, in this case, is to be understood by comparison to…
Hamilton lays out five principles for stable government—interest in supporting it, love of power, habitual attachment, force/coercion of arms, and influence via honors—arguing these align better with a national government than the states.
*Madison's Writings*, vol. ii.). A brief of the speech from the Hamilton Papers is given in Lodge's *Works of Hamilton*, i., 353, where (i., 375) Yates's report also is quoted. The great question is what provision shall we make for the happiness of our Country? He would first make a comparative examination of the two plans--prove that there were essential defects in both--and point out such changes as might render a …
She recounts her fifth husband, a scholar “of Oxenford” living in their town with her gossip Alisoun, and describes secret counsel and visits during Lent that lead to her eventual romantic plans.
wrought so subtlely. It is but waste to bury them preciously. Let him fare well, God give his soule rest, He is now in his grave and in his chest. Now of my fifthe husband will I tell: God let his soul never come into hell. And yet was he to me the moste shrew;* *cruel, ill-tempered That feel I on my ribbes all *by rew,* *in a row And ever shall, until mine ending day. But in our …
Confronting an old man and a poor man, the rioters threaten them and demand Death’s location; the old man directs them to a tree, where they find a hidden hoard and begin plotting murder for the gold.
and hind, and page; I trow his habitation be there; To be advised* great wisdom it were, *watchful, on one’s guard Ere* that he did a man a dishonour.” *lest “Yea, Godde’s armes,” quoth this riotour, “Is it such peril with him for to meet? I shall him seek, by stile and eke by street. I make a vow, by Godde’s digne* bones.” *worthy Hearken, fellows, we three be alle ones:* …
The revelers draw lots for the hoard’s sharing, but two agree to betray and stab the third; their “brotherhood” collapses into a premeditated plan to divide the gold between themselves.
did you In age, if that ye may so long abide. And God be with you, whether ye go or ride I must go thither as I have to go.” “Nay, olde churl, by God thou shalt not so,” Saide this other hazardor anon; “Thou partest not so lightly, by Saint John. Thou spakest right now of that traitor Death, That in this country all our friendes slay’th; Have here my troth, as thou art his espy;* *spy Tell w…
The narrator warns that “multiplying” metals blinds and deceives many, causing scarcity, ruined finances, and cursed outcomes for those who lend to and pursue alchemical profit.
as he would, Of this receipt, farewell! it would not be. Lo, thus bejaped* and beguil’d was he; *tricked Thus made he his introduction To bringe folk to their destruction. Consider, Sirs, how that in each estate Betwixte men and gold there is debate, So farforth that *unnethes is there none.* *scarcely is there any* This multiplying blint* so many a one, *blinds, deceive That in good faith I t…
Tom Thumb, a tailor’s tiny son, sets out to seek fortune; after conflicts over food and a pattern of narrowly escaping capture, he helps rob the king’s treasure and later negotiates survival through clever speech and bargains.
daughter began to cry, for she was afraid of the cold Frog, and dared not touch him; and besides, he actually wanted to sleep in her own beautiful, clean bed! But her tears only made the King very angry, and he said, "He who helped you in the time of your trouble must not now be despised!" So she took the Frog up with two fingers, and put him into a corner of her chamber. But as she lay in her bed, he crept up to it…
Utopians treat gold and silver as low-value because they lack domestic money, prefer iron as essential, and prevent jealousy by using precious metals for contemptible purposes like chamber-pots, slave chains, and children’s ornaments.
certain that a people thus ordered must live in great abundance of all things, and these being equally distributed among them, no man can want or be obliged to beg. “In their great council at Amaurot, to which there are three sent from every town once a year, they examine what towns abound in provisions and what are under any scarcity, that so the one may be furnished from the other; and this is done freely, without…
The narrator explains that Utopians think a miserly man will never give away even a farthing, crediting such ideas to education and study in a society whose customs differ from Europe.
they know him to be so covetous and base-minded that, notwithstanding all his wealth, he will not part with one farthing of it to them as long as he lives! “These and such like notions have that people imbibed, partly from their education, being bred in a country whose customs and laws are opposite to all such foolish maxims, and partly from their learning and studies—for though there are but few in any town that ar…
Utopians criticize false pleasures—fine clothes, ostentatious respect, jewels, hoarded wealth—arguing they are useless shadows, even when owners hide money in the earth.
the minds of those that are once captivated by them with a false notion of pleasure that there is no room left for pleasures of a truer or purer kind. “There are many things that in themselves have nothing that is truly delightful; on the contrary, they have a good deal of bitterness in them; and yet, from our perverse appetites after forbidden objects, are not only ranked among the pleasures, but are made even the …
The speaker says rich men know greater happiness is wanting necessities, but pride blocks adoption of Utopian laws; after Raphael stops, the narrator notes moneyless communal living and lack of nobility’s splendor, but still finds parts worth more consideration.
the necessities of life, if that blessed thing called money, which is pretended to be invented for procuring them was not really the only thing that obstructed their being procured! “I do not doubt but rich men are sensible of this, and that they well know how much a greater happiness it is to want nothing necessary, than to abound in many superfluities; and to be rescued out of so much misery, than to abound with s…
Socrates adds that guardians should hear tales of endurance and self-control but be forbidden money-loving plots and impious stories, including actions attributed to heroes like Achilles, Theseus, and Peirithous.
But any deeds of endurance which are done or told by famous men, these they ought to see and hear; as, for example, what is said in the verses, He smote his breast, and thus reproached his heart, Endure, my heart; far worse hast thou endured! Certainly, he said. In the next place, we must not let them be receivers of gifts or lovers of money. Certainly not. Neither must we sing to them of Gifts persuading g…
The dialogue turns to why most “rare” philosophic natures go bad: their virtues and ordinary goods corrupt them, and bad education and public opinion can ruin even the greatest minds into great crimes.
True, he replied. Neither is there any reason why I should again set in array the philosopher's virtues, as you will doubtless remember that courage, magnificence, apprehension, memory, were his natural gifts. And you objected that, although no one could deny what I then said, still, if you leave words and look at facts, the persons who are thus described are some of them manifestly useless, and the greater number …
The dialogue explains oligarchic character formation: a timocrat’s son becomes money-focused after losing status, turning reason and spirit into servants of covetousness, producing an “oligarchical youth” who values wealth over virtue.
Anything but well. There is another evil which is, perhaps, the greatest of all, and to which this State first begins to be liable. What evil? A man may sell all that he has, and another may acquire his property; yet after the sale he may dwell in the city of which he is no longer a part, being neither trader, nor artisan, nor horseman, nor hoplite, but only a poor, helpless creature. Yes, that is an evil which a…
Plato closes this sequence by stating that tyranny arises from democracy, as democracy’s own good—freedom—turns into an insatiable desire that neglects other goods and demands a tyrant to manage it.
Yes, he said, the change in him is visible enough. After this he lives on, spending his money and labour and time on unnecessary pleasures quite as much as on necessary ones; but if he be fortunate, and is not too much disordered in his wits, when years have elapsed, and the heyday of passion is over--supposing that he then re-admits into the city some part of the exiled virtues, and does not wholly give himself up …
The tyrannical man lives by feasts, courtesans, and escalating debts, deceiving and plundering parents when refused, and becomes a housebreaker and temple-robber as his earlier moral beliefs are overturned.
I can imagine him. Then you must further imagine the same thing to happen to the son which has already happened to the father:--he is drawn into a perfectly lawless life, which by his seducers is termed perfect liberty; and his father and friends take part with his moderate desires, and the opposite party assist the opposite ones. As soon as these dire magicians and tyrant-makers find that they are losing their hol…
Using experience and reason as criteria, Socrates says the philosopher judges best and that the pleasures of the wise are truest; the soldier’s honor comes next, while the lover of gain has the least pleasure.
from the heaven of pleasure? Does he not call the other pleasures necessary, under the idea that if there were no necessity for them, he would rather not have them? There can be no doubt of that, he replied. Since, then, the pleasures of each class and the life of each are in dispute, and the question is not which life is more or less honourable, or better or worse, but which is the more pleasant or painless--how s…
Socrates says defenders of poetry may speak, but if poetry cannot justify itself it must be rejected; he warns listeners to guard the city-soul against poetry’s seductions and honor justice over rewards.
Certainly, he said, we shall the gainers. If her defence fails, then, my dear friend, like other persons who are enamoured of something, but put a restraint upon themselves when they think their desires are opposed to their interests, so too must we after the manner of lovers give her up, though not without a struggle. We too are inspired by that love of poetry which the education of noble States has implanted in us…
Bunyan reflects on the effects and dangers of ministry: his joy in converts, frequent temptations in preaching (fear, blasphemous thoughts), and a lesson that gifts without love and grace are lifeless like sounding brass.
now speak all that I know in this matter, yet my experience hath more interest in that text of scripture, Gal. i. 11, 12, than many amongst men are aware. 286. If any of those who were awakened by my ministry, did after that fall back (as sometimes too many did), I can truly say, their loss hath been more to me, than if one of my own children, begotten of my own body, had been going to its grave: I think verily, I …