[Of the Love of Money.]

IV. For he that has money and does not bestow it upon others, nor use it himself, is like the serpent, which they say sleeps over the treasures; and of him is that scripture true which says, “He has gathered riches of which he shall not taste;”  4  Job xx. 18, LXX.; Prov. xi. 4. and they will be of no use to him when he perishes justly. For it says, “Riches will not profit in the day of wrath.” For such a one has not believed in God, but in his own gold; esteeming that his God, and trusting therein. Such a one is a dissembler of the truth, an accepter of persons, unfaithful, cheating, fearful, unmanly, light, of no value, a complainer, ever in pain, his own enemy, and nobody’s friend. Such a one’s money shall perish, and a man that is a stranger shall consume it, either by theft while he is alive, or by inheritance when he is dead. “For riches unjustly gotten shall be vomited up.”  5  Job xx. 15, LXX.

[4] Ὁ δὲ ἔχων καὶ ἐν ὑποκρίσει λαμβάνων ἢ δι' ἀργίαν, ἀντὶ τοῦ ἐργαζόμενον βοηθεῖν καὶ ἑτέροις, δίκην ὀφλήσει τῷ Θεῷ, ὅτι πενήτων ἥρπασε ψωμόν. Ὁ γὰρ ἔχων ἀργύρια καὶ μὴ μεταδιδοὺς ἑτέροις μήτε μὴν αὐτὸς χρώμενος τόπον ὄφεως κεκλήρωται, ὅν φασιν ἐπὶ τοῖς θησαυροῖς καθεύδειν, καὶ ἔστιν ἐπ' αὐτῷ ἀληθὴς ἡ γραφὴ ἡ φάσκουσα: «Συνήγαγεν πλοῦτον, ἐξ οὗ οὐ γεύσεται.» Καὶ οὐδὲν αὐτῷ ὄφελος ὀλλυμένῳ παρὰ τῆς δίκης: «Οὐκ ὠφελήσει γάρ, φησίν, ὑπάρχοντα ἐν ἡμέρᾳ ὀργῆς.» Ὁ γὰρ τοιοῦτος οὐ τῷ Θεῷ πεπίστευκεν, ἀλλὰ τῷ ἑαυτοῦ χρυσίῳ, θεὸν τοῦτο ἡγούμενος καὶ ἐπ' αὐτῷ πεποιθώς: ὑποκριτὴς ἀληθείας ὁ τοιοῦτος, προσωπολήπτης, ἄπιστος, εἴρων, δειλός, ἄνανδρος, κοῦφος, εὐχερής, μεμψίμοιρος, ἐπώδυνος, ἑαυτοῦ ἐχθρὸς καὶ οὐδενὸς φίλος. Τούτου τὰ χρήματα ὀλεῖται καὶ ἀνὴρ ξένος ἔδεραι αὐτά, ἢ ζῶντος ὑφελόμενος ἢ θανόντος καρπωσάμενος: «Πλοῦτος γὰρ ἀδίκως συναγόμενος ἐξεμεθήσεται.»