[249] Duæ res maxime homines ad maleficium impellunt, luxuries et avaritia. Cic. 1. ad Heren. Corrupti sunt depravatique mores admiratione divitiarum. Idem. 2. Offic. Nihil est tam sanctum quod non violari, nihil tam munitum quod non expugnari pecunia possit. Cicero 2. in Verrem. When Alexander sent Phocion a hundred talents, he asked, Why he rather sent it to him than all the rest of the Athenians? He answered, Because he took him to be the only honest man in Athens: whereupon Phocion returned it to him again, entreating him to give him leave to be honest still.
[250] It was one of Chilon's sayings, Lapideis cotibus aurum examinari: auro autem bonorum malorumque hominum mentem cujusmodi sit comprobari: i. e. As the touchstone trieth gold, so gold trieth men's minds, whether they be good or bad. Laertius in Chil. p. 43.
[251] Luke xviii. 11-13; Matt. vi. 16, 18.
[252] Luke xii. 48; xvi. 9, 10; Matt. xxv.; 2 Cor. viii. 14, 15.
[253] Nullius rei eget qui virtutum dives est: quarum indigentia vere miseros, ac proinde misericordiæ egentissimos facit. Petrarch. Dial. 44. li. 2.
[254] Diis maxime propinquus qui minimis egeat. Socrat. in Laert.
[255] 1 Cor. vii. 31.
[256] Remember Gehazi, Achan, Judas, Ananias and Sapphira, Demetrius, Demas. Jer. vi. 13; viii. 10. Maxime vituperanda est avaritia senilis. Quid enim absurdius quam quo minus vitæ restat, eo plus viatici quærere? Cicero in Cat. Maj.
[257] Prov. xi. 4, "Riches profit not in the day of wrath."
[258] Jer. xvii. 11; Jam. v. 1-3.