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of interest payments, but for the one groaning by the addition of misfortunes. Drink water from your own vessels, that is, consider your own resources. Do not go to another's springs, but from your own streams gather for yourself the comforts of life. Do not go to another's doors. For what is another's is in reality a well. It is better to relieve the need by gradual contrivances, than, having been suddenly puffed up by what is another's, to be stripped later of everything one possesses at once. If then you have from where you may repay, why do you not relieve the present want from these resources? But if you are at a loss for the repayment, you are curing an evil with an evil. Do not accept a creditor besieging you; do not endure to be hunted down and tracked like some wild beast. The beginning of a lie is borrowing. The words of the one borrowing are one thing, 95.1369 and those of the one being asked for repayment are another. "If only I had not met you then! Did you not place the money in my hand against my will? And your gold is debased with bronze, and the coin is counterfeit." Whether, then, the lender is a friend, do not lose his friendship; or if an enemy, do not become subject to your foe. Having adorned yourself for a little while with what is another's, later you will be dispossessed even of your paternal inheritance. Are you poor now? But you are free. But having borrowed, you will not become rich, and you will be deprived of your freedom. The borrower is a slave to the lender; and a hired slave, whose service is inescapable. Dogs, when they receive something, are tamed, but the creditor, when he receives something, is further provoked. For he does not stop barking, but seeks for more. If you swear an oath, he disbelieves; he searches your private affairs, he meddles in your transactions. If you go out of your chamber, he pulls you towards himself and drags you down. But if you hide yourself inside, he stands at the courtyard door, and knocks at the gate; he shames you before your wife, he insults you before your friends, he throttles you in the marketplaces; an evil encounter at a festival, he makes your life unlivable. But the need, he says, is great. What good is it for you to postpone today? For poverty will come upon you again like a good runner, and the same need will be present with addition. For a loan does not provide complete deliverance, but a long postponement of helplessness. Interest, I think, has been so named because of the prolific generation of evil. For from where else? Or perhaps it is called interest because of the birth-pangs and griefs which it is its nature to produce in the souls of borrowers. Just as the birth-pang for the one giving birth, so the deadline stands before the debtor. Interest upon interest, a wicked offspring of wicked parents. Let these be called the brood of vipers, the offspring of interest payments. They say that vipers are born by eating through their mother's womb, and interest payments are generated by devouring the houses of debtors. Give the silver lying at home, not weighing it down with additions, and it will be well for both. For you, on the one hand, there will be the security from its safekeeping, and for the one who receives it, the gain from its use. But if you also seek an addition, be content with what is from the Lord. He himself on behalf of the poor will repay the increase. From the one who is truly philanthropic await philanthropic acts. For what you take is the very height of misanthropy. You profit from misfortunes, you collect money from tears, you strangle the naked, you strike the starving; there is mercy nowhere. The profits from these things, do you call them philanthropic? Woe to those who call bitter sweet, and who call misanthropy philanthropy. Some are hundred-collectors and ten-collectors, names dreadful even to hear; monthly demanders, like those who cause seizures, attacking the poor according to the cycles of the moon, a wicked gift 95.1372 bringing loss to each, both to the one giving and to the one receiving, to the one in his money, and to the other in his soul. The farmer, having taken the ear of grain, does not search for the seed again under the root; but you have both the fruits and you do not desist from the principal; you plant without earth, you reap without sowing. It is unclear for whom you gather. The one weeping over the interest payments is manifest, but the one who will enjoy the abundance from these things, is doubtful. For it is unclear if not for others the joy in the wealth

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τόκων, τοῦ δὲ στενάζοντος τῇ προσθήκῃ τῶν συμφορῶν. Πίνε ὕδατα ἀπὸ σῶν ἀγγείων, τουτέστι, τὰς οἰκείας ἀφορμὰς περισκόπει. Μὴ ἐπ' ἀλλοτρίας πηγὰς βάδιζε, ἀλλ' ἐξ οἰκείων λιβάδων συνάγαγε σεαυτῷ τὰς παραμυθίας τοῦ βίου. Μὴ βάδιζε ἐπ' ἀλλοτρίας θύρας. Φρέαρ γὰρ τῷ ὄντι τὸ ἀλλότριόν, ἐστιν. Βέλτιον ταῖς κατὰ μικρὸν ἐπινοίαις τὴν χρείαν παραμυθήσασθαι, ἢ ἀθρόως ἐπαρθέντα τοῖς ἀλλοτρίοις, ὕστερον πάντων ὁμοῦ τῶν προσόντων ἀπογυμνοῦσθαι. Εἰ μὲν οὖν ἔχεις πόθεν ἀποδῷς, τί οὐχὶ τὴν παροῦσαν ἔνδειαν ἐκ τούτων τῶν ἀφορμῶν διαλύεις; Εἰ δὲ ἀπορεῖς πρὸς τὴν ἔκτισιν, κακῷ κακὸν θεραπεύεις. Μὴ δέξῃ πολιορκοῦντά σε δανειστήν· μὴ ἀνάσχῃ ὥσπερ ἄλλο τι θήραμα ἀναζητεῖσθαι καὶ ἐξιχνεύεσθαι. Ψεύδους ἀρχὴ τὸ δανείσασθαι. Ἄλλα ῥήματα τοῦ δανειζομένου, 95.1369 καὶ ἄλλα τοῦ ἀπαιτουμένου. Εἴθε σοι μὴ ἀπήντησα τότε, οὐχὶ δὲ ἄκοντός μου ὑπέβαλες τῇ χειρὶ τὰ χρήματα· ὑπόχαλκον δέ σου τὸ χρυσίον, καὶ παρακεκομμένον τὸ νόμισμα. Εἴτε οὖν φίλος ὁ δανείζων, μὴ ζημιωθῇς αὐτοῦ τὴν φιλίαν· εἴτε ἐχθρὸς, μὴ γένῃ τῷ δυσμενεῖ ὑποχείριος. Μικρὸν ἐγκαλλωπισάμενος τοῖς ἀλλοτρίοις, ὕστερον καὶ τῶν πατρῴων ἐκστήσῃ. Πένης εἶ νῦν; ἀλλ' ἐλεύθερος. ∆ανεισάμενος δὲ, οὐδὲ πλουτήσεις, καὶ τὴν ἐλευθερίαν ἀφαιρεθήσῃ. ∆οῦλος τοῦ δεδανεικότος ὁ δανεισάμενος· καὶ δοῦλος μισθοφόρος, ὁ ἀπαραίτητον ἔχων τὴν λειτουργίαν. Οἱ κύνες λαβόντες ἡμεροῦνται, ὁ δὲ δανειστὴς λαμβάνων προσερεθίζεται. Οὐ γὰρ παύεται ὑλακτῶν, ἀλλὰ τὸ πλέον ἐπιζητεῖ. Ἐὰν ὀμνύῃς, ἀπιστεῖ· ἐρευνᾷ τὰ ἐνδὸν, τὰ συναλλάγματά σου πολυπραγμονεῖ. Ἐὰν προΐῃς τοῦ δωματίου, ἕλκει πρὸς ἑαυτὸν, καὶ κατασύρει. Ἐὰν δὲ ἔνδον σεαυτὸν κατακρύψῃς, ἐφέστηκε τῇ αὐλαίᾳ, καὶ θυρακρουστεῖ· ἐπὶ γαμετῆς καταισχύνει, ἐπὶ φίλων καθυβρίζει, ἐν ταῖς ἀγόραις ἄγχει· κακὸν συνάντημα ἑορτῆς, ἀβίωτόν σοι κατασκευάζει τὸν βίον. Ἀλλὰ μεγάλη, φησὶν, ἡ ἀνάγκη. Τί ὄφελός σοι τὴν σήμερον ὑπερθέσθαι; Πάλιν γὰρ ἥξει σοι ἡ πενία ὥσπερ ἀγαθὸς δρομεὺς, καὶ ἡ αὐτὴ ἀνάγκη μετὰ προσθήκης παρέσται. Τὸ γὰρ δάνος οὐκ ἀπαλλαγὴν παντελῆ, ἀλλὰ μακρὰν ἀναβολὴν τῆς ἀμηχανίας παρέχεται. Τόκος οἶμαι διὰ τὴν πολυγονίαν τοῦ κακοῦ προσηγόρευται. Πόθεν γὰρ ἄλλοθεν; Ἢ τάχα τόκος λέγεται διὰ τὰς ὠδῖνας καὶ λύπας, ἃς ἐμποιεῖν ταῖς ψυχαῖς τῶν δανειζομένων πέφυκεν. Ὥσπερ ἡ ὠδὶς τῇ τικτούσῃ, οὕτως ἡ προθεσμία τῷ ὑποχρέῳ παρίσταται. Τόκος ἐπὶ τόκῳ, πονηρῶν γονέων πονηρὸν ἔκγονον. Ταῦτα δὲ λεγέσθω γεννήματα ἐχιδνῶν, τὰ τῶν τόκων ἀποκυήματα. Τὰς ἐχίδνας λέγουσι τὴν γαστέρα τῆς μητρὸς διεσθιούσας τίκτεσθαι, καὶ οἱ τόκοι τοὺς οἴκους τῶν ὀφειλόντων ἐκφαγόντες ἀπογεννῶνται. ∆ὸς τὸ οἴκοι κείμενον ἀργύριον, μὴ βαρύνων αὐτὸ ταῖς προσθήκαις, καὶ ἀμφοτέροις ἥξει καλῶς. Σοὶ μὲν ὑπάρξει τὸ ἐκ τῆς φυλακῆς ἀσφαλῶς, τῷ δὲ λαβόντι τὸ ἐκ τῆς χρήσεως κέρδος. Εἰ δὲ καὶ προσθήκην ἐπιζητεῖς, ἀρκέσθητι τοῖς παρὰ τοῦ Κυρίου. Αὐτὸς ὑπὲρ τῶν πενήτων τὸν πλεονασμὸν ἀποτίσει. Παρὰ τοῦ ὄντως φιλανθρώπου ἀνάμενε τὰ φιλάνθρωπα. Ἃ γὰρ λαμβάνεις, ταῦτα μισανθρωπίας οὐδεμίαν ὑπερβολὴν ἀπολείπει. Ἀπὸ συμφορῶν κερδαίνεις, ἀπὸ δακρύων ἀργυρολογεῖς, τὸν γυμνὸν ἄγχεις, τὸν λιμώττοντα τύπτεις· ἔλεος οὐδαμοῦ. Τὰ ἐντεῦθεν κέρδη, φιλάνθρωπα ὀνομάζεις; Οὐαὶ οἱ λέγοντες τὸ πικρὸν γλυκὺ, καὶ τὴν μισανθρωπίαν φιλανθρωπίαν προσαγορεύοντες. Ἑκατοστολόγοι καὶ δεκατοστολόγοι τινὲς, φρικτὰ καὶ ἀκουσθῆναι ὀνόματα· μηνιαῖοι ἀπαιτηταὶ, ὥσπερ οἱ τὰς ἐπιληψίας ποιοῦντες, κατὰ τὰς περιόδους τῆς σελήνης ἐπιτιθέμενοι τοῖς πτωχοῖς, πονηρὰ δόσις 95.1372 ἑκατέρῳ, καὶ τῷ διδόντι, καὶ τῷ λαμβάνοντι, τῷ μὲν εἰς χρήματα, τῷ δὲ εἰς ψυχὴν φέρουσαν τὴν ζημίαν. Ὁ γεωργὸς τὸν στάχυν λαβὼν, τὸ σπέρμα πάλιν ὑπὸ τὴν ῥίζαν οὐκ ἐρευνᾷ· σὺ δὲ καὶ τοὺς καρποὺς ἔχεις, καὶ οὐκ ἀφίστασαι τῶν ἀρχαίων· ἄνευ γῆς φυτεύεις, ἄνευ σπορᾶς θερίζεις. Ἄδηλον τίνι συνάγεις. Ὁ μὲν δακρύων ἐν τοῖς τόκοις πρόδηλος, ὁ δὲ ἀπολαύειν μέλλων τῆς ἀπὸ τούτων περιουσίας, ἀμφίβολος. Ἄδηλον γὰρ εἰ μὴ ἑτέροις τὴν ἐπὶ τῷ πλούτῳ χαρὰν