Plutarch, De vitando aere alieno, Harold North Fowler (Translator), 3

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[3] Now the Roman women gave their ornaments as an offering to Pythian Apollo and from them made the golden bowl which was sent to Delphi; and the women of Carthage shore their heads and gave their hair to make ropes for the tension of machines and instruments¹ in defence of their native city. But we, ashamed to be independent, enslave ourselves by mortgages and notes, when we ought to limit and restrict ourselves to actual necessities and from the proceeds of the breaking up or the sale of useless superfluities to found a sanctuary of Liberty for ourselves, our children, and our wives. The goddess Artemis at Ephesus grants to debtors when they take refuge in her sanctuary protection and safety from their debts, but the protecting and inviolable sanctuary of Frugality is everywhere wide open to sensible men, offering them a joyous and honourable expanse of plentiful leisure. For just as the Pythian prophetess b in the time of the Persian wars told the Athenians that the God offered them a wooden wall, and they, giving up their land, their city, their possessions, and their houses, took refuge in their ships for the sake of liberty, so to us God offers a wooden table, a pottery dish, and a coarse cloak if we wish to live as free men.

Do not abide the attack of the horsemen,²

nor of yoked chariots adorned with horn or silver, which rapid interest overtakes and outruns. No, make use of any chance donkey or nag and flee from your enemy and tyrant, the money-lender, who does not, like the Persian, demand earth and water, but attacks your liberty and brings suit against your honour. If you will not pay him, he duns you; if you have funds, he won’t accept payment; if you sell, he beats down the price; if you will not sell, he forces you to do so; if you sue him, he meets you in court; if you take your oath, he orders you to do so; if you go to his door, he shuts it in your face; if you stay at home, he installs himself there and keeps knocking at your door.

De vitando aere alieno. Plutarch. Harold North Fowler (Translator). Cambridge, MA. 1936.

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Funding provided by The National Endowment for the Humanities.

Current edition Perseus

That we Ought not to Borrow (English) (Plutarch. Moralia, Vol. X. Fowler, Harold North, translator. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1936 (printing).)

Editions (1)

Περὶ τοῦ μὴ δεῖν δανείζεσθαι Perseus (Plutarch. Plutarchi Chaeronensis Moralia, Vol. V. Vernardakēs, Grēgorios N., editor. Leipzig: Teubner, 1893.) — 3 focus

[3] αἱ μὲν οὖν Ῥωμαίων γυναῖκες εἰς ἀπαρχὴν τῷ Πυθίῳ Ἀπόλλωνι τὸν κόσμον ἐπέδωκαν, ὅθεν ὁ χρυσοῦς κρατὴρ εἰς Δελφοὺς ἐπέμφθη· αἱ δὲ Καρχηδονίων γυναῖκες ἐκείραντο τὰς κεφαλὰς καὶ 5 ταῖς θριξὶν ἐντεῖναι τὰς μηχανὰς καὶ τὰ ὄργανα παρέσχον ὑπὲρ τῆς πατρίδος ἡμεῖς δὲ τὴν αὐτάρκειαν αἰσχυνόμενοι καταδουλοῦμεν ἑαυτοὺς ὑποθήκαις καὶ συμβολαίοις, δέον εἰς αὐτὰ τὰ χρήσιμα συσταλέντας καὶ συσπειραθέντας ἐκ τῶν ἀχρήστων 10 καὶ περιττῶν κατακοπέντων ἢ πραθέντων ἐλευθερίας αὑτοῖς ἱερὸν ἱδρύσασθαι καὶ τέκνοις καὶ γυναιξίν. 828d ἡ μὲν γὰρ Ἄρτεμις ἡ ἐν Ἐφέσῳ τοῖς χρεώσταις, ὅταν καταφύγωσιν εἰς τὸ ἱερὸν αὐτῆς, ἀσυλίαν παρέχει καὶ ἄδειαν ἀπὸ τῶν δανείων· τὸ δὲ τῆς 15 εὐτελείας καὶ ἄσυλον καὶ ἄβατον πανταχοῦ τοῖς σώφροσιν ἀναπέπταται, πολλῆς¹ σχολῆς εὐρυχωρίαν παρέχον ἱλαρὰν καὶ ἐπίτιμον. ὡς γὰρ ἡ Πυθία τοῖς Ἀθηναίοις περὶ τὰ Μηδικὰ τεῖχος ξύλινον² διδόναι τὸν θεὸν ἔφη, κἀκεῖνοι τὴν χώραν καὶ τὴν πόλιν 20 καὶ τὰ κτήματα καὶ τὰς οἰκίας ἀφέντες εἰς τὰς ναῦς κατέφυγον ὑπὲρ τῆς ἐλευθερίας, οὕτως ἡμῖν ὁ θεὸς δίδωσι ξυλίνην τράπεζαν καὶ κεραμεᾶν λεκάνην καὶ τραχὺ ἱμάτιον, ἐὰν ἐλεύθεροι ζῆν ἐθέλωμεν. 828e

μηδὲ σὺ γʼ ἱπποσύνας τε μένειν,

25 μηδʼ ὀχήματα ζευκτὰ κερασφόρα⁴ καὶ κατάργυρα, ἃ τόκοι ταχεῖς καταλαμβάνουσι καὶ παρατρέχουσιν ἀλλʼ ὄνῳ τινὶ τῷ τυχόντι καὶ καβάλλῃ χρώμενος φεῦγε πολέμιον καὶ τύραννον δανειστήν, οὐ γῆν⁵ αἰτοῦντα καὶ ὕδωρ ὡς ὁ Μῆδος, ἀλλὰ τῆς ἐλευθερίας ἁπτόμενον καὶ προγράφοντα⁶ τὴν ἐπιτιμίαν· 5 κἂν μὴ διδῷς, ἐνοχλοῦντα· κἂν ἔχῃς, μὴ λαμβάνοντα· κἂν πωλῇς, ἐπευωνίζοντα· κἂν μὴ πωλῇς, ἀναγκάζοντα· κἂν δικάζῃς⁷, ἐντυγχάνοντα· κἂν ὀμόσῃς, 828f ἐπιτάττοντα· κἂν βαδίζῃς ἐπὶ θύρας, ἀποκλείοντα· κἂν οἴκοι μένῃς, ἐπισταθμεύοντα καὶ 10 θυροκοποῦντα.

Translations (1)

Against Running in Debt, or Taking up Money Upon Usury Perseus (Plutarch. Plutarch's Morals, Vol. V. Goodwin, William W., editor; Smith, R., translator. Boston: Little, Brown, and Company; Cambridge: Press of John Wilson and Son, 1874.) — 3 focus

[3] The Roman ladies heretofore willingly parted with their jewels and ornaments of gold, for the making a cup to be sent as an offering to the temple of Apollo Pythius in the city of Delphi. And the Carthaginian matrons did with their own hands cut the hair from their heads, to make cords for the managing of their warlike engines and instruments, in defence of their besieged city. But we, as if we were ashamed of being able to stand on our own legs without being supported by the assistance of others, go and enslave ourselves by engagements and obligations; whereas it were much better that, restraining our ambition and confining it to what is profitable for us, we should of our useless and superfluous plate, which we should either melt or sell, build a temple of Liberty for ourselves, our wives, and our children. The Goddess Diana in the city of Ephesus gives to such debtors as can fly into her temple freedom and protection against their creditors; but the sanctuary of parsimony and moderation in expenses, into which no usurer can enter to pluck thence and carry away any debtor prisoner, is always open for the prudent, and affords them a long and large space of joyful and honorable repose. For as the prophetess which gave oracles in the temple of the Pythian Apollo, about the time of the Persian wars, answered the Athenians, that God had for their safety given them a wall of wood, upon which, forsaking their lands, their city, their houses, and all their goods, they had recourse to their ships for the preservation of their liberty; so God gives us a table of wood, vessels of earth, and garments of coarse cloth, if we desire to live and continue in freedom.

Aim not at gilded coaches, steeds of price,

And harness, richly wrought with quaint device;

for how swiftly soever they may run, yet will usuries overtake them and outrun them. Take rather the first ass thou shalt meet or the first packhorse that shall come in thy way, and fly from that cruel and tyrannical enemy the usurer, who asks thee not earth and water, as heretofore did the barbarous king of Persia, but —which is worse—touches thy liberty, and wounds thy honor by proscriptions. If thou payest him not, he troubles thee; if thou hast wherewithal to satisfy him, he will not receive it, unless it be his pleasure. If thou sellest, he will have thy goods for nothing, or at a very under rate; and if thou wilt not sell, he will force thee to it; if thou suest him, he speaks to thee of an accommodation; if thou swearest to give him content, he will domineer over thee; if thou goest to his house to discourse with him, he shuts his door against thee; if thou stayest at home, he is always knocking at thy door and will never stir from thee.

Notes on the current edition

That we Ought not to Borrow

1. Beginning with the fourth century b.c. the ancients employed various machines to hurl projectiles. They are commonly called catapults ( καταπέλτης). Their power lay in the elasticity of wooden beams which were bent by means of ropes rendered taut by twisting, whence the Latin name tormentum. The story is found in Appian, viii. 13. 93.

2. Herodotus, vii. 141. The quotation is from the oracle in hexameters delivered to the Athenians by the priestess at Delphi when the Persians invaded Attica in 480 b.c. before the battle of Salamis.

Plutarch De vitando aere alieno 3

Harold North Fowler (Translator)

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