Thus the poor millionaire is preached out of his possessions. What if he individually be blameless? He is one of the accursed race, and must pay the penalty for the collective sins of his forefathers. All that he obtains by his vigorous protests is the comfortless saw:
“Excess of wealth is cause of covetousness,
And covetousness, O, ’tis a monstrous sin.”
He is stripped of all he had, his goods, his money, his ships, his stores; and his mansion is converted into a nunnery. Nothing remains to him but his life, and he is left to bewail his misery and to curse its authors to his heart’s content. This he proceeds to do in the following terms:
“The Plagues of Egypt, and the curse of Heaven,
Earth’s barrenness, and all men’s hatred
Inflict upon them, thou great Primus Motor!
And here upon my knees, striking the earth,
I ban their souls to everlasting pains
And extreme tortures of the fiery deep,