By Virgil
(Latin epic poet, B.C. 70-19)
Curst greed of gold, what crimes thy tyrant power has caused!
(From the "Antigone" of Sophocles)
(Greek tragic poet, B.C. 440)
No such ill device
Ever appeared, as money to mankind:
This is it that sacks cities, this routs out
Men from their homes, and trains and turns astray
The minds of honest mortals, setting them
Upon base actions; this revealed to men
Habits of all misdoing, and cognizance
Of every work of wickedness.
(From the Book of Good Counsels)
(Sanscrit, B.C. 300)
Wealth is friends, home, father, brother, title to respect, and fame;
Yea, and wealth is held for wisdom—that it should be so is shame.
(From the "Medea" of Euripides)
(Greek tragic poet, B.C. 431)
Speak not so hastily: the gods themselves
By gifts are swayed, as fame relates; and gold
Hath a far greater influence o'er the souls
Of mortals than the most persuasive words.
