ins were an offense which was punished by the Censor, himself
owned four million sesterces; a less fortune, no doubt, than that of
Crassus, but larger than of Cato the Censor. If the amounts be
compared, he had outstript his great-grandfather further than he
himself was outdone by Crassus, and if still greater riches had
fallen to his lot, he would not have spurned them, for the wise man
does not think himself unworthy of any chance presents: he does not
love riches, but he prefers to have them; he does not receive them
into his spirit, but only into his house: nor does he cast away from
him what he already possesses, but keeps them, and is willing that his
virtue should receive a larger subject-matter for its exercise....

Cease, then, forbidding philosophers to possess money: no one has
condemned wisdom to poverty. The philosopher may own ample wealth, but
will not own wealth that which has been torn from another, or which is
stained with another's blood: his must be obtained without wronging
any man, and without its being won by base means; it must be alike
honorably come by and honorably spent, and must be such as spite could
alone shake its head at. Raise it to whatever figure you please, it
will still be an honorable possession, if, while it includes much
which every man would like to call his own, there be nothing which any
one can say is his own. Such a man will not forfeit his right to the
favor of Fortune, and will neither boast of his inheritance nor blush
for it if it was honorably acquired; yet he will have something to
boast of, if he throw his house open, let all his countrymen come
among his property, and say, "If any one recognizes here anything
belonging to him, let him take it." What a great man, how excellently
rich will he be, if after this speech he possesses as much as he had
before! I say, then, that if he can safely and confidently submit his
accounts to the scrutiny of the people, and no one can find in them
any item upon which he can lay hands, such a man may boldly and
unconcealedly enjoy his riches. The wise man will not allow a single
ill-won penny to cross his threshold; yet he will not refuse or close
his door against great riches, if they are the gift of fortune and the
product of virtue: what reason has he for grudging them good quarters:
let them come and be his guests: he will neither brag of them nor hide
them away: the one is the part of a silly, the other of a cowardly and
paltry s