De cavenda avaritia
The Divine Warning Against Greed
The author compiles a series of scriptural testimonies to warn the king that greed is a destructive force incompatible with a godly reign.
So, King, don't turn aside from the straight and royal road for the sake of flatterers or gifts, and don't stoop to bend your steps toward the evil of greed. For there is a judgment written by divine inspiration that specifically rebukes the greed of kings. For Solomon says in Proverbs: A just king raises up the land; a greedy man will destroy it. Again he himself says: Whoever pursues greed throws his own house into turmoil; but whoever hates gifts will live.1 In the Gospel the Lord says to his disciples: Guard yourselves against every form of greed, because a person's life does not consist in the abundance of what he possesses. Agreeing with this judgment, Ecclesiastes says: The greedy man will not be filled with money; and whoever loves riches will not take fruit from them. The prophet Habakkuk also says: Woe to the one who heaps up evil greed in his house so that his nest may stand on high, and who thinks he will free himself from the hand of evil! The apostle Paul preaches: No fornicator, or impure person, or greedy person—which is idolatry—has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.2
The Consuming Fire of Avarice
The king is exhorted to choose mercy over greed, which is described as an insatiable, self-destructive fire that breeds all other vices.
So then, most generous king, love mercy and flee greed, so that you may deserve to have an eternal inheritance with Christ. Be openhanded to everyone, generous to everyone, so that through you the land of your kingdom is not wickedly destroyed, but happily raised up. Do this not by throwing your house into turmoil like a greedy man, but by building it up like a generous one. For greed is a great and enormous evil: it is a fire that burns without going out and sears without stopping. For of greed it is written in the book of blessed Job: Fire will devour the tents of those who gladly take gifts.3 Just as the body lives in a physical building, the mind lives in the counsel of its thoughts—but fire devours those tents when the heat of greed lays waste to the mind's thoughts. Greed knows no measure, has no sense of moderation, and puts off any end to possessing; and though it swallows everything, it has no notion of fullness at all—it is always hungry and begs; it is destitute and stuffed with poverty; and though it gnaws everything with savage teeth, the horrible thing still admits and cries that it is fasting; and though it is, in name alone, a single vice, many other vices sprout and rise from it, as it is written: The root of all evils is greed. It breeds not only a great many hidden evils, but many open ones as well.
The Public Corruption of the Kingdom
The chapter concludes by illustrating how the private vice of greed inevitably manifests as public crime and social disorder.
That’s why you find forgers with furrowed brows in the assembly, assassins in the heart of the city, poisoners out in public, crimes committed openly, and wickedness practiced in plain sight.
Read the original Latin
Tu ergo, rex, nec pro adulatoribus, nec pro muneribus, a recto regioque divertas itinere, nec ad avaritiae malum, rectum regiumque digneris flectere gressum. Regum etenim specialiter inculpans avaritiam scripta divinitus invenitur sententia. Ait enim Salomon in Proverbiis: Rex justus erigit terram: vir avarus destruet eam. Item ipse: Conturbat domum suam qui sectatur avaritiam: qui autem odit munera, vivet. Dominus in Evangelio discipulis ait: Cavete ab omni avaritia: quia non in abundantia cujusquam vita ejus est, ex his quae possidet. Huic sententiae concordans Ecclesiastes ait: Avarus non implebitur pecunia: et qui amat divitias, fructum non capiet ex eis. Habacuc quoque propheta dicit: Vae qui congregat avaritiam malam domi suae: ut sit in excelso nidus ejus, et liberari se putat de manu mali! Paulus apostolus praedicat dicens: Omnis fornicator, aut immundus, aut avarus, quod estidolorum servitus, non habet haereditatem in regno Christi et Dei.
Tu ergo, largissime rex, ama misericordiam, et fuge avaritiam, ut cum Christo haereditatem habere merearis aeternam. Omnibus esto munificus, omnibus largus, ut per te non male destruatur, sed feliciter erigatur regni tui terra. Non ut avarus domum tuam conturbes, sed ut largus aedifices. Grande enim et ingens malum est avaritia: ignis enim inexstinguibiliter est ardens et incessabiliter urens. De avaritia enim in libro beati Job scriptum est: Ignis devorabit tabernacula eorum, qui munera libenter accipiunt. Sicut enim corpus habitat in materiali aedificio, sic mens habitat in cogitationis consilio: sed ignis tabernacula devorat, cum aestus avaritiae cogitationes mentis devastat. Avaritia modum ignorat, temperamentum nescit, finem habendi postponit, et cum cuncta devoret, saturitatem penitus nescit, esurit semper et mendicat, inops est et paupertate repleta; et cum feralibus cuncta dentibus rodat, adhuc se jejunam horribilis confitetur et clamat; et cum sit unum nomine tenus vitium, multa ab illo alia pullulant et emergunt vitia, sicut scriptum est: Radix omnium malorum est avaritia. Et non solum occulta plurima, sed et aperta generat multa mala.
Inde rugata fronte in conventu inveniuntur falsarii; inde in medio civitatis sicarii; inde in publico venefici; inde aperte crimen admittitur; inde scelus publice operatur.
Notes
- 1 ↩munera can mean gifts or bribes; in this proverbial anti-greed setting, 'gifts' keeps the biblical breadth while implying corrupt payoffs.
- 2 ↩Source has fused form 'estidolorum'; translated as the intended Vulgate sense 'est idolorum servitus' (idolatry / service of idols).
- 3 ↩munera can mean gifts or bribes; rendered 'gifts' to stay close to the Latin while keeping the corrupt-favor sense clear from context.
Via Regia (The Royal Road) companion
Rule yourself daily, not just on retreat
Chosen Portion turns the mirror into a daily practice — a short reading and examining question each morning before you lead anyone.
Chosen Portion makes the mirror daily: the ruler-formation questions this collection preserves become a two-minute morning examination in the app.
- A daily formation reading drawn from centuries of counsel to those in authority
- One pointed examination question a day — two minutes, before the meetings start
- Track your practice over weeks and watch the examined life become a habit