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"The prosperous should
live ostentatiously, and so make plain the god's
bounty. For the god who has bestowed these
blessings thinks that a man should feel grateful to
him for what he has done. But when men try to hide
their fortune, alleging that they are but
indifferently well off, the god sees that they are
ungrateful and are living meanly, and at the first
opportunity he seizes and wrests from them all that
he has given before." [Athenaeus,
Deipnosophistae
2.40e]
"Wealth should not be
seized: god-given wealth is much better; for if a
man takes great wealth violently and perforce, or
if he steals it through his tongue, as often
happens when gain deceives men's sense and dishonor
tramples down honor, the gods soon blot him out and
make that man's house low, and wealth attends him
only for a little time." [Hesiod,
Works
and Days 320]
«'Thus! do you think
a potter who grew rich would any longer be willing
to give his mind to his craft?' 'By no means,' said
he. 'But will he become more idle and negligent
than he was?' 'Far more.' 'Then he becomes a worse
potter?' 'Far worse too.' 'And yet again, if from
poverty he is unable to provide himself with tools
and other requirements of his art, the work that he
turns out will be worse, and he will also make
inferior workmen of his sons or any others whom he
teaches.' 'Of course.' 'From both causes, then,
poverty and wealth, the products of the arts
deteriorate, and so do the artisans?' 'So it
appears.'» [Plato,
Republic
421d et seq.]
"... the inheritance which
the Spartans receive from their fathers is not
wealth, as is the case with all other men, but an
eagerness to die for the sake of liberty, so that
they set all the good things which life can offer
second to glory." [Diodorus Siculus,
The
Library of History 10.34.8.]
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Plutus is Wealth
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Blind
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Plutus—a blind god—is Wealth, shown by
artists as nursed by
Peace. He was born in
Crete, and is said to have
been the first to introduce diligence, as well as
the acquisition and safeguarding of property, into
the life of men. For before his arrival, humans had
been neglectful of storing property. But through
him they learned to acquire more than they actually
need, being said to possess Plutus when they
succeeded in doing so.
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Lovely
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Although Wealth is allotted by Fate, Plutus is
usually regarded as a very nice god:
"Plutus is a
kindly god who goes everywhere over land and the
sea's wide back, and he makes rich the man who
finds him and into whose hands he comes, bestowing
great wealth upon him." [Hesiod,
Theogony
970]
Naturally, many wish to receive this god as
guest in their houses, since all followers in his
retinue bear wonderful names such as profusion,
abundance, affluence, prosperity, opulence,
holdings, capital, assets, bonds, or even 'shares'
(although Plutus is not given to sharing).
These great things usually invite the wealthy to
become wealthier, and the wealthier wealthiest. For
even if it is regarded as particularly lovely to be
well-off or well-to-do, and accordingly lead a
comfortable and high moneyed life at one's
residence on Easy Street, still, moving to Easier
Street must be aimed at.
For them, most other things have little or no
value at all, and they could say with
Polyphemus 2:
"Little man,
the wise regard wealth as the god to worship; all
else is just prating and fine-sounding
sentiments." [The Cyclops to
Odysseus. Euripides,
Cyclops
316]
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Gods and Goods
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The fullness of that existence is such, that
some talk about the wealthy as being 'loaded', as
if they were crawling with indigestion under some
weight, thus getting 'filthy rich' and even
'stinking'.
Therefore, some do not call things like Wealth
'gods', but instead they say 'goods'. And regarding
these goods as more human than divine, they rank
Wealth in the fourth place, after Health, Beauty,
and Strength. And others place Wealth far below
excellence or virtue
"I say it now
and I always will: excellence has the greatest
glory. Wealth keeps company with worthless men as
well, and it tends to swell a man's thoughts
..." [Bacchylides,
Odes
1.160]
For Wealth is not so much concerned with
qualities as he is with quantities; and because man
does not possess riches as much as he is possessed
by them.
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W. F. & P.
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Wealth walks along with
Fame and Power, exchanging
services, as it were; and humans who are the slaves
of any of these three, may commit whatever deed in
order to attain them or increase their share in
them. But
"... the god
hates violence, and commands everyone to have their
possessions without robbery. Wealth that is unjust,
though it may bring some power, ought to be
avoided." [Helen to
Menelaus. Euripides,
Helen
905]
But riches are appreciated for their own sake,
and because they alone can make things and people
appear in another, more favourable light:
"I know also
the great power of wealth, which makes even a
useless man valuable." [Bacchylides,
Odes
10.50]
And although the worth of a man and his
happiness are difficult to establish, they can,
least of all, be tested by wealth:
"There is no
exact way to test a man's worth; for human nature
has confusion in it. I have seen before now the son
of a noble father worth nothing, and good children
from evil parents; famine in a rich man's spirit,
and a mighty soul in a poor man's body. How then
does one rightly distinguish and judge these
things? By wealth? A sorry test to use."
[Orestes 2 to
Electra 2. Euripides,
Electra
370]
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Wealth and Justice
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It is told that Plutus never shared his riches
with his brother Philomelus, and that the latter,
compelled by Necessity,
bought two oxen with the little he had and, having
invented the wagon, cultivated the fields and
supported himself.
This is so because Plutus is Wealth, not
Brotherhood, and no one should reproach this god
for his nature. For Wealth is a wonderful gift, and
it is not the god, but the greed of men that oppose
Justice:
"Wealth I
desire to have; but wrongfully to get it, I do not
wish. Justice, even if slow, is sure."
[Solon.
Plutarch,
Parallel
Lives Solon 2.3]
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Cause of good and evil
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Yet humans consider Plutus the sole cause of
both good and evil, saying, on one hand, that it is
because of him that men sacrifice to
Zeus, and that it is for
his sake that all human inventions and arts have
come about.
On the other hand, they—loving to absolve
themselves—complain that whores, either male
or female, do not care for love but for money,
adding that so does the thief and the burglar, and
the same is for all other businesses with the help
of which things are fashioned and sold. Likewise,
they lament that also friendship suffers, affirming
that friends vanish when the coffers are empty.
This is how they blame Plutus.
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Politics and War
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Similarly, they reason, the pride of great
rulers derives from Plutus, given that Insolence
dwells with this god; and they assert that it is
because of him that citizens get involved in
politics, and fleets and armies are equipped.
And they complain about politicians and other
leaders, saying that for as long as they are poor,
they are also honest, but once they reach the
public funds, they start to hate
Justice and plot against
democracy. Some among these public servants do not
even do anything of their own, but instead
superintend both public and private businesses,
sneaking themselves in the affairs of others, and
making a living out of what they call country's
service, which is—as they themselves define
it—to watch the observation of the established
law and to prevent its violation.
In this complaint, they are in agreement with
the god, who himself says:
"... as soon
as they secure my favours and grow rich, their
wickedness knows no bounds." [Plutus.
Aristophanes, Plutus 109]
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Of Plutus no one tires
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Finally they state that mortals might get tired
of Love, bread, music,
honours, cakes, battles, ambition, military
advancement, or lentil soup, but of Plutus they
never tire.
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