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this is the end of zeal, this is the enjoyment, to this extent is happiness: to procure material for perjury. But, he says, the appearance of gold is of a beautiful color. Is it more beautifully colored than fire? Is it more beautiful than the stars? Is it brighter than the rays of the sun? What prevents you from this enjoyment, so that 5.342 it is necessary for you to provide pleasure to your eyes through the beautiful color of gold? But, he says, the fire is extinguished and the sun sets and the grace of its brightness does not last. But what, tell me, is the difference of gold from lead in the darkness? But not, he says, from fire or the stars could we have necklaces and bracelets and brooches and belts and torcs and crowns and such things, but gold makes these things and whatever else is contrived for adornment. The defense of the material has brought the zeal to the chief point of vanity; for this very thing I would say to them: for what does one strive who adorns his hair with gold, or hangs ornaments from his ears, or surrounds his neck with necklaces, or wears it on some other part of the body? He displays gold, wherever on the body it happens to be displayed, being himself in no way transformed by the gleam of the gold. For one looking at the gold-wearer sees the gold just as if it happened to be on display in the shops, but he sees the wearer just as he is by nature 5.343. And if the gold is well-wrought and chased, and if it encloses green or fire-gleaming gems within itself, his nature has by no means received any perception of the things set beside it, but whether there is some blemish on the face or something is lacking from what is natural, either an eye having been lost or a cheek hideously hollowed with a scar, the disgrace remains in what is seen, in no way being obscured by the gleam of the gold; and if someone happens to be in bodily pain, the material has brought no consolation to the one who suffers. That, therefore, which brings nothing useful to those who are zealous for it, neither for beauty, nor for bodily well-being, nor for the consolation of pains, for what is it pursued with zeal? And what is the disposition of those whose hearts are fused to this material, when they happen to be conscious of such a possession? As possessing what more do they exult in themselves? If someone were to ask them whether they would accept that their nature be changed into that and that they themselves become this thing, which is honored with so great a disposition by them, would they choose the transformation, so that their nature would pass from that of a human to gold, and they would be shown to be no longer rational and intellectual and using their senses for life, but pale and heavy and speechless and soulless and senseless, such as the nature of gold is? I do not think they would choose these things, not even those who are completely fused with the material through their 5.344 desire. If, then, for those who are right-minded it is in the form of a curse to come to be in the properties of inanimate matter, what is this irrational madness for the possession of these things, of which the end is vanity, so that on this account those who are driven to rage by money dare even murders and robberies? And not only of these, but also of the wicked device of usury, which if someone called it another kind of robbery and murder, he would not be wrong. For what is the difference between secretly taking another's property by burglary and having it, and by the murder of a passerby making oneself master of his things, or acquiring what is not one's own through the compulsion of usury? O wicked name! "Offspring" becomes a name for robbery. O bitter marriages! O wicked union, which nature did not know, but the disease of the lovers of money has innovated among inanimate things. O difficult pregnancies, from which such an offspring grows. Among existing things, only the animate was distinguished by the difference between male and female. To these God the creator said, "Increase and multiply," so that through generation from one another that which is brought to life might increase to a multitude. But the offspring of gold, from what marriages is it formed? From what pregnancy is it brought to term? But I know the birth-pang of such offspring, having learned from the prophet, "Behold," he says,

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τοῦτο τῆς σπουδῆς τὸ πέρας, αὕτη ἡ ἀπόλαυσις, μέχρι τούτου ἡ εὐδαιμονία τὸ ὕλην τῇ ἐπιορκίᾳ πορίσασθαι. ἀλλ' εὔχρουν, φησί, τοῦ χρυσίου τὸ εἶδος. μὴ καὶ τοῦ πυρὸς εὐχροώτερον; μὴ τῶν ἄστρων περικαλλέστερον; μὴ τῶν ἀκτίνων τοῦ ἡλίου φανότερον; τίς ὁ κωλύων σε τῆς ἀπολαύσεως ταύτης, ὥστε 5.342 σοι ἀνάγκην εἶναι διὰ τῆς εὐχροίας τοῦ χρυσοῦ τὰ καθ' ἡδονὴν πορίζειν ταῖς ὄψεσιν; ἀλλὰ σβέννυται, φησί, τὸ πῦρ καὶ ὁ ἥλιος δύεται καὶ οὐ διαρκεῖ τῆς λαμπηδόνος ἡ χάρις. τοῦ δὲ χρυσοῦ τίς, εἰπέ μοι, διὰ τοῦ σκότους παραλλαγὴ πρὸς τὸν μόλυβδον; ἀλλ' οὐκ ἄν, φησίν, ἐκ τοῦ πυρὸς ἢ τῶν ἄστρων γένοιτο ἡμῖν δέραια καὶ περιδέξια καὶ πόρπαι καὶ ζῶναι καὶ μανιάκαι καὶ στέφανοι καὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα, ὁ δὲ χρυσὸς ταῦτά τε ποιεῖ καὶ εἴ τι ἄλλο πρὸς κόσμον ἐπιτηδεύεται. ἤγαγε πρὸς τὸ κεφάλαιον τῆς ματαιότητος τὴν σπουδὴν ἡ συνηγορία τῆς ὕλης· αὐτὸ γὰρ τοῦτο πρὸς αὐτοὺς εἴποιμι ἄν· [ἀντὶ] τί[νων] σπουδάζει ὁ χρυσῷ τὴν κόμην περιανθίζων ἢ τῶν ὤτων ἐξάπτων τὰ προκοσμήματα ἢ τὴν δέρριν περιβάλ λων τοῖς περιτραχηλίοις χλίδωσιν ἢ ἐν ἄλλῳ τινὶ φέρων μέρει τοῦ σώματος; χρυσὸν προδείκνυσιν, ὅπουπερ ἂν τύχῃ προβεβλημένος τοῦ σώματος, οὐδὲν αὐτὸς πρὸς τὴν αὐγὴν τοῦ χρυσίου μεταμορφούμενος. ὁ γὰρ πρὸς τὸν χρυσοφοροῦντα βλέπων τὸ μὲν χρυσίον οὕτως ὁρᾷ ὡς εἰ τύχοι καὶ ἐν τοῖς πρατηρίοις προκείμενον, τὸν δὲ φοροῦντα οἷος πέφυκε 5.343 τοιοῦτον βλέπει. κἂν εὐεργές τε καὶ διάγλυφον ᾖ τὸ χρυσίον, κἂν τὰς χλοερὰς ἢ πυραυγεῖς ψηφῖδας ἐν ἑαυτῷ περιείργῃ, οὐδὲν μᾶλλον αἴσθησίν τινα τῶν παρακειμένων ἡ φύσις ἐδέξατο, ἀλλ' εἴτε λώβη τις εἴη περὶ τὰ πρόσωπα εἴτε τι λείποι τῶν κατὰ φύσιν, ἢ ὀφθαλμοῦ ἐκρυέντος ἢ παρειᾶς εἰδεχθῶς ἐν οὐλῇ κοιλανθείσης, μένει τὸ αἶσχος ἐν τῷ φαινομένῳ, μηδὲν τῇ αὐγῇ τοῦ χρυσίου ἐπισκοτούμενον· κἂν ἐπαλγὴς ὤν <τις> τύχῃ τῷ σώματι, οὐδεμίαν ἐπήγαγε παραμυθίαν τῷ πονοῦντι ἡ ὕλη. Ὃ οὖν μήτε πρὸς κάλλος μήτε πρὸς εὐεξίαν σώματος μήτε πρὸς τὴν τῶν ἀλγημάτων παραμυθίαν φέρει τι χρήσιμον τοῖς σπουδάζουσιν, ὑπὲρ τίνος σπουδάζεται; καὶ τίς ἡ διάθεσις τῶν τῇ καρδίᾳ προστετηκότων τῇ ὕλῃ, ὅταν ἐν τῷ συνειδότι τῆς τοιαύτης κτήσεως τύχωσιν ὄντες; ὡς τί πλέον ἔχοντες ἑαυτοῖς ἐπαγάλλονται; ἆρ' εἴ τις αὐτοὺς ἐρωτήσειεν, εἰ δέχονται αὐτοῖς ἀμειφθῆναι πρὸς ἐκεῖνο τὴν φύσιν καὶ γενέσθαι αὐτοὶ τοῦτο, ὃ τῇ τοσαύτῃ παρ' αὐτῶν διαθέσει τετίμηται, ἕλοιντο ἂν τὴν μεταβολήν, ὥστε ἐξ ἀνθρώπου πρὸς τὸν χρυσὸν αὐτοῖς μεταβῆναι τὴν φύσιν καὶ δειχθῆναι μηκέτι λογικοί τε καὶ διανοητικοὶ καὶ τοῖς αἰσθητηρίοις πρὸς τὴν ζωὴν κεχρημένοι, ἀλλ' ὠχροί τε καὶ βαρεῖς καὶ ἄναυδοι ἄψυχοί τε καὶ ἀναίσθητοι, οἷα ἡ τοῦ χρυσοῦ φύσις ἐστίν; οὐκ ἂν οἶμαι ταῦτα ἑλέσθαι οὐδὲ τοὺς σφόδρα διὰ τῆς 5.344 ἐπιθυμίας συντετηκότας τῇ ὕλῃ. εἰ οὖν ἐν κατάρας εἴδει τοῖς εὖ φρονοῦσίν ἐστι τὸ ἐν τοῖς ἰδιώμασι τῆς ἀψύχου ὕλης γενέσθαι, τίς ἡ ἄλογος περὶ τὴν κτῆσιν τούτων μανία, ὧν τὸ πέρας ἡ ματαιότης ἐστίν, ὡς καὶ φόνων διὰ τοῦτο καὶ λῃστείας κατατολμᾶν τοὺς προσλελυσσηκότας τοῖς χρήμασι; καὶ οὐ τούτων μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῆς πονηρᾶς ἐπινοίας τῶν τόκων, ἣν ἄλλην τις λῃστείαν καὶ μιαιφονίαν ὀνομάσας οὐκ ἂν ἁμάρτοι τοῦ δέοντος. ἢ τί γὰρ διαφέρει λαθραίως ἐκ τοιχωρυχίας ἀλλότρια ληϊσάμενον ἔχειν καὶ τῷ φόνῳ τοῦ παροδεύοντος δεσπότην ἑαυτὸν τῶν ἐκείνου ποιεῖν ἢ διὰ τῆς τῶν τόκων ἀνάγκης κτᾶσθαι τὰ μὴ προσήκοντα; ὢ κακῆς προσηγορίας! τόκος ὄνομα τῇ λῃστείᾳ γίνεται. ὢ πικρῶν γάμων! ὢ πονηρᾶς συζυγίας, ἣν ἡ φύσις μὲν οὐκ ἐγνώρισεν, ἡ δὲ τῶν φιλοχρηματούντων νόσος ἐν τοῖς ἀψύχοις ἐκαινοτόμη σεν. ὢ χαλεπῶν κυημάτων, ἀφ' ὧν ὁ τοιοῦτος τόκος ἐκφύεται. μόνον ἐν τοῖς οὖσι τὸ ἔμψυχον τῇ κατὰ τὸ ἄρρεν καὶ θῆλυ διαφορᾷ διεκρίθη. τούτοις εἶπεν ὁ πλάσας θεὸς Αὐξάνεσθε καὶ πληθύνεσθε, ὥστε διὰ τῆς ἐξ ἀλλήλων γενέσεως εἰς πλῆθος τὸ ζωογονούμενον αὔξεσθαι. ὁ δὲ τοῦ χρυσίου τόκος ἐκ ποίων γάμων συνίσταται; ἐκ ποίας τελεσφορεῖται κυήσεως; ἀλλ' οἶδα τὴν ὠδῖνα τοῦ τοιούτου τόκου, παρὰ τοῦ προφήτου μαθὼν Ἰδού, φησίν,