"Creverunt opes et opum furiosa cupido,
Et eum possideant plurima, plura petunt."
And also the poet Horace:
" - scilicet improbae
Crescunt divitiae, tamen
Curtae nescio quid semper abest rei.
Crescentem sequitur cura pecuniam
Majorumque fames."
To which purpose the poet Lucan says:
" - O vitae tuta facultas
Pauperis, angustique lares, o munera nondum
Intellecta Deum!"
And Petronius:
Non bibit inter aquas nec poma fugacia carpit
Tantalus infelix, quem sua vota premunt.
Divitis hic magni facies erit, omnia late
Qui tenet, et sicco concoquit ore famem."
The mountains are full of herds and horses, the woods well stored
with swine and goats, the pastures with sheep, the plains with
cattle, the arable fields with ploughs; and although these things in
very deed are in great abundance, yet each of them, from the
insatiable nature of the mind, seems too narrow and scanty.
Therefore lands are seized, landmarks removed, boundaries invaded,
and the markets in consequence abound with merchandise, the courts
of justice with law-suits, and the senate with complaints.
Concerning such things, we read in Isaiah, "Woe unto them that join
house to house, that lay field to field, till there be no place,
that they be placed alone in the midst of the earth."
If therefore, the prophet inveighs so much against those who proceed
to the boundaries, what would he say to those who go far beyond
them? From these and other causes, the true colour of religion was
so converted into the dye of falsehood, that manners internally
black assumed a fair exterior:
"Qui color albus erat, nunc est contrarius albo."
So that the scripture seems to be fulfilled concerning these men,
"Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but
inwardly they are ravenous wolves." But I am inclined to think this
avidity does not proceed from any bad intention. For the monks of
this Order (although themselves most abstemious) incessantly
exercise, more than any others, the acts of charity and beneficence
towards the poor and strangers; and because they do not live as
others upon fixed incomes, but depend only on their labour and
forethought for subsistence, they are anxious to obtain lands,
farms, and pastures, which may enable them to perform these acts of
hospitality. However, to repress and remove from this sacred Order
the detestable stigma of ambition, I wish they would sometimes call
to mind what is written in Ecclesiasticus, "Whoso bringeth an
offering of the goods of the poor, doth as one that killeth the son
before his father's eyes;" and also the sentiment of Gregory, "A
good use does not justify things badly acquired;" and also that of
Ambrose, "He who wrongfully receives, that he may well dispense, is
rather burthened than assisted." Such men seem to say with the
Apostle, "Let us do evil that good may come." For it is written,
"Mercy ought to be of such a nature as may be received, not
rejected, which may purge away sins, not make a man guilty before
the Lord, arising from your own just labours, not those of other
men." Hear what Solomon says; "Honour the Lord from your just
labours." What shall they say who have seized upon other men's
possessions, and exercised charity?
