The Book of Saint Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, on Tobit.

Latin Text from public domain Migne Editors, Patrologiae Cursus Completus.

Translated into English using ChatGPT.

Table of Contents Caput I. Caput II. Caput III. Caput IV. Caput V. Caput VI. Caput VII. Caput VIII. Caput IX. Caput X. Caput XI. Caput XII. Caput XIII. Caput XIV. Caput XV. Caput XVI. Caput XVII. Caput XVIII. Caput XIX. Caput XX. Caput XXI. Caput XXII. Caput XXIII. Caput XXIV.

Caput I.

He proposes to speak briefly about the virtues of Tobias, which are recounted in the historical Scripture: first, it narrates about how he endured captivity and exile, and even buried the dead in those circumstances. Then it explains how he did not cease from this duty upon returning, where even the task of burying the dead is preached.


In reading the prophetic book entitled Tobias, although the Holy Scripture has fully indicated to you the virtues of the holy prophet, I believe it is appropriate to briefly recount his merits and works in a concise manner so that we may grasp more comprehensively what Scripture has arranged in a historical manner. We will gather the various types of his virtues as if in a compendium.

He was a just man, merciful, hospitable, and endowed with these virtues, he underwent the hardship of captivity, which he bore humbly and patiently, grieving more for the common injustice than for his own private sorrow (Tob. 1:2 et seq.); and he did not lament that the support of virtues had been of no use to him, but rather considered that insult to be less significant than the punishment for his sins (Tob. 3:1 et seq.).

3. He deserved the decree that no one from among the sons of captivity would give burial to the dead (Tob. I, 22). But he was not revoked by the decree any more than he was incited, lest he should seem to abandon the duty of piety out of fear of death; for it was the price of mercy, the punishment of death. Such a guilty defendant, when caught in the act of the crime, could scarcely, at last, by the help of a friend, be restored to his destitute and exiled state with his plundered inheritance.

4. Once again he was engaged in these duties; and if there was any food, he would seek out a stranger with whom to share a meal. Therefore, when he returned tired from the task of burying the dead, he would set aside provisions for himself to eat and send his son to find a companion for the feast (Tob. II, 1 et seq.). While the guest was being summoned, news arrived of the unburied remains of a body, and he abandoned the feast: he did not think it pious to partake of food himself while a lifeless body lay exposed in public.


5. This is a daily work for him, and a great work, and indeed a great one. For if the Law commands us to cover the naked while they are alive, how much more should we cover the deceased? If we are accustomed to escorting the living to long distances, how much more should we accompany those who have departed to that eternal home from which they will not return? As Job says, I have wept over every weak person (Job. XXX, 25). Who is weaker than the deceased, of whom Scripture says elsewhere: Weep over the dead (Eccli. XXII, 10)? But Ecclesiastes says: The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning; but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth. (Ecclesiastes 7:5) There is nothing more noble than this duty, to give to one who can no longer give to you, to vindicate from the birds, to vindicate from the beasts a partner in nature. It is said that animals have displayed this humanity towards the dead bodies, humans will deny it!

Caput II.

By what method Tobias endured blindness, took precautions to avoid any theft, and did not ask for the borrowed money back from Gabelus, except when worn out by old age: finally, how much he detested evil usury, with a strong condemnation and praise for good.

6. So exhausted from his holy duty, the Prophet rests in his chamber, and when a sparrow's nest falls, he is struck with blinding whiteness (Tob. 2:6,10, etc.). Yet he did not complain or lament, nor did he say: This is the reward for my labors. He was more grieved to be deprived of his service than of his sight: he considered the blindness not as a punishment, but as an obstacle. And when he relieved his wife's burden by earning a wage, he took care that nothing stolen entered his home: his wife had received a kid as payment; but he, being more concerned with honor than with pity, provided for the one to whom he owed his sustenance. He had entrusted a certain amount of money to his neighbor, which he had not asked for during his entire lifetime of such great need. Barely when he saw himself tired and burdened by old age, he hinted to his son, not so much desiring to demand back what he had entrusted, but anxious not to defraud the heir.

Therefore, whoever entrusted money and did not charge interest, fulfilled the duty of justice. For usury is an evil thing by which interest is sought, but not that usury which is evil as written: You shall not lend to your neighbor with interest in the time of his necessity (Eccl. XXIX, 2). For even David says: The just man shows mercy and lends (Ps. XXXVI, 21). That other usury is by right execrable, to give money in usury, which the Law prohibits (Deut. XXIII, 19). But Tobias avoided this, admonishing his son not to disregard the commandment of the Lord, to make alms from his substance, not to lend money at interest, not to turn his face away from any poor person (Tobit 4:6-7). Those who give this advice condemn the sin of usury, from which many have made profit, and for many, lending money has been a business. Indeed, the saints have prohibited it.

The greater the evil of usury, the more praiseworthy is the one who avoids it. Give money if you have it, let others benefit from what is idle to you. Give as if you will not receive it back, so that it may yield profit if it is returned. The one who does not return money, repays with gratitude: if you defraud with money, you gain justice; for it is just to have mercy and to lend. If money is lost, mercy is obtained. For it is written: He that sheweth mercy lendeth to his neighbour. (Ecclesiasticus 29:1)

Caput III.

Ambrose exposes the inhumanity of moneylenders towards the poor, and the tactics they use to make them beholden to them; and finally he denounces them.

9. Many do not profit from fear of loss while they deceive others. And this is what they are accustomed to say to those who seek: 'Lose your money for the sake of your brother and friend, and do not hide it under a stone for destruction. Set your treasure in the commandments of the Most High, and it will benefit you more than gold' (Ibid., 13 and 14). But the ears of people have become deaf to such beneficial teachings, and especially the rich keep their ears closed to that clamor of their own money. While they count their money, they do not hear pleas. At the same time, when someone, either constrained by necessity or anxious for the redemption of their own, begins to ask for help, for those whom the barbarian sells as captives, immediately the rich person turns their face away, does not recognize their nature, does not have mercy on the suppliants' humility, does not alleviate their necessity, does not consider their common fragility, stands inflexible, reclining, is not inclined by prayers, is not moved by tears, is not broken by wails, swearing that they do not have [money], or rather they themselves seek a moneylender, in order to help their own necessities. What do you add to the oath of your harshness and greed? You are not absolved by perjury, but rather bound.

10. But when the mention of interest or collateral is made; then the moneylender, with a lowered eyebrow, smiles, and, remembering someone he had previously denied knowing, he receives that same person as if in a fatherly friendship, with a kiss, calling it an heirloom pledge of charity, and forbidding tears. 'We shall inquire,' he says, 'if there is any money for us at home, I will sell for your sake the paternal silverware that was expertly crafted, there will be great loss: what interest will compensate for the prices of the emblems?' But for the expense of a friend, I will not hesitate, when you have returned, I will replenish. Therefore, before he gives, he hastens to receive: and he who claims to assist in the greatest amount, demands interest. On the Kalends, he says, you will give interest: in the meantime, if you do not have what to repay with, I do not ask. In this way, he pays once and harasses frequently, and always convinces himself that he owes something. He deals with men using this art. Therefore, he binds him first with written obligations and ties him with the bonds of his voice. Money is counted, freedom is added, the unfortunate is acquitted of a smaller debt, and bound by a greater.

These are your benefits, the wealthy. You give less and demand more. Such is your humanity, that you plunder even when you provide assistance. The poor are profitable to you. The usurer is poor, you force him to have something to give back: what he spends, he does not have. You are truly merciful men, whom others free, you enslave. He who needs sustenance pays interest. Is there anything more severe? He seeks a remedy, you offer him poison: he begs for bread, you extend a sword: he pleads for freedom, you impose servitude: he prays for absolution, you tighten the knot of an ugly noose.

Caput IV.

By what reasoning are moneylenders compared to the Jews and the devil; and what is the significance of the names creditor, interest, fate, and debtor?

12. Saint David especially deplores this injustice, saying: I saw iniquity and contradiction in the city; and usury and deceit did not fail from its streets (Ps. 54:11-12). Therefore, when he subjected Judas to betrayal, he prefaced it with this, either because the crime of usury in addition to the envy of sacrilege occurred in the conspiracy of the Lord's killing, or because such sacrilege would adequately and abundantly avenge usury. The wicked lenders gave money to kill the author of salvation: these are also wicked, who give to kill the innocent. And he too, who accepted money, like the traitor Judas, hanged himself with a noose. Even Judas himself thought that he was deserving of damnation, so that his usurer's wealth could be searched (Ps. XVIII, 11); because that which the oppression of tyrants or the hand of thieves usually does, only the wickedness of the usurer is known to do. Moreover, the more learned consider the usurer to be compared to the devil, who overturns the goods of the soul and the precious inheritance of the mind with a certain interest of unfairness, spending it, coveting it with gold, involving it in guilt, and returning it with interest to the treasure.


What is more unfair for you, who are not satisfied with the release of your heads in this way? What is more unfair for you, who give money and bind life and patrimony? You receive gold and silver as a pledge, and yet you say that he is the debtor who trusted you more than he received from you? You claim to be creditors, who owe more: you, I say, claim to be creditors, who have not trusted a man, but a pledge. Well, what you give is rightly called interest, so cheap and contemptible is it.


You speak of the fate that is due. Indeed, like a wretched lot cast into a funeral urn, the doomed debtor's punishment is paid. Pale are the defendants as they await the outcome of the lot. Not so do they tremble for those whose condemnation is decided by the lot: not so dejected and suspended do they fear for those whose captivity awaits the outcome of the lot. For there, the captivity of one is imposed, here it is imposed on many. And perhaps it is for this reason that fate, because in the outcome are the inheritances that are cast in this lot. A great and memorable benefit of God. This is specifically proclaimed by the prophetic mouth, that he bestowed upon the fathers, because he freed them from usury and injustice (Ps. LXXI, 14). And he specifically says: he freed them from usury, because usury inflicts servitude. It is as if he were saying, he restored those freed from the bondage of servitude to liberty.

15. The grave term of debtors. Sins are called debts. Debtors are also called criminals; for they decide on matters of life and death, just as those do. However, they have the guilt of their names, just as they have the diversity of their actions. Debts, although of different amounts, have one name, one burden, one danger. Therefore, the unfortunate person who seeks a loan does not know what he begs for: he is ignorant of what he will receive.

Caput V.

Money is compared to the sea for moneylenders: when someone receives it, they immediately attract a crowd of scoundrels; and of lots from both testaments. When that money is spent through intemperance, the wretched moneylender is forced to sell his furniture or grant a delay, but they are even sadder for the warriors themselves: finally, there follows a very late repentance for their foolishness.


16. Money does not know how to stay in one place for long, it is accustomed to passing through many hands. It does not know how to be held in a bag, it seeks to be turned over and counted: it requires use in order to gain interest. It is like the waves of the sea, not a source of fruit. Money never rests. It slips away, like a rock struck, it hits the lap of the debtor, and immediately flows back to where it came from. It comes with murmurs, and returns with groans. However, the sea often stands calm to the winds, but is always tossed by the waves of interest. She swallows the shipwrecked, spits out the naked, strips off the clothed, and leaves the unburied. So you ask for a coin, and you take on shipwreck. Hence Charybdis roars around, hence the Sirens, who, in the guise of pleasure and the sweetness of their enchanting song, deceived those led by fate into the blind tides, lured them to their homes, as the legends say, with hope and desire. (Homer, Odyssey)

Immediately the sellers of perfume and various spices rush in, like dogs attracted by the scent of cunning prey, hunters, fishermen, birdcatchers, and even innkeepers mixing water with wine, who celebrate the nobility of the ancient race and of their country, and the birthday of wine: surrounding suddenly the parasites whom they used to scorn before, they greet, lead, provoke to joy, incite to expense, saying: Come, and let us enjoy the good things that exist, and let us use the creature as quickly as in youth: let us fill ourselves with precious wine and perfumes, and let the flower of time not pass us by. Let us crown ourselves with roses before they wither, let there be no field that our luxury does not cross, let us leave signs of joy everywhere, for this is our portion and this is our lot (Wisdom 2:6 and following). And truly, fortune has become the portion of all of them, but you remain without share in good things.

18. The Scripture did not show you such kinds of fortunes. David the holy one does not mention such kinds of fortunes when he says one must sleep amidst fortunes (Psalm 67:14). For if you had slept amidst those fortunes, that is, the Old and New Testament, the desire for money would not have dragged you into the whirlpool of the worst usury, the grace of spiritual faith would have given you silver, and divine wisdom's instruction would have molded it into the appearance of gold. Indeed, if we have set one testimony of divine Scripture and have turned away from that lavish banquet, surely he could have been saved if he had clung to the heavenly oracles.

19. However, let us return to the banquet, not to taste its delicacies, but to show caution to others. The table is laden with foreign and exquisite foods; shining attendants are employed at great expense to provide lavish feasts; drinking continues into the night, and the day is concluded with the banquet, leaving no room for sobriety. He rises full of wine, empty of wealth, sleeping until morning and thinking his dreams are reality. For just as a poor person suddenly becomes rich in dreams, so too does a rich person become destitute. While money is flowing away, interest is overflowing: time is diminished, usury is increased: the treasure is emptied, fortune is accumulated: one by one the guests withdraw, the guarantors convene: in the morning the moneylender knocks at the doors, complaining that the appointed days for payment have passed, he attacks the vigilant with insults, he wakes up the sleeping in their dreams. There are no peaceful nights, no pleasant days, no sunny weather. Golden and silk clothes are gradually taken away, and they disappear at half the price. The wife, now sadder, places the possessions with tears, bought at a dearer price, to be sold at a cheaper price. At the auction, the boys are placed as servers at the tables, and, being poorly trained, they turn away the buyer. Money is offered to the creditor: 'Barely,' he says, 'does this pay the interest; you owe the principal.'

20. The defendant returns with his exhausted wealth; and with interest reduced, he accepts gloomier truces to war, as if he would fight after two days. In war, victory is uncertain, here, there is certain lack: there he covers himself with a shield, here he meets naked; there a breastplate encloses his chest, here he is enclosed in a prison; there he loads his hands with weapons, he arms himself with arrows, here he offers empty fetters to be bound. Both are often led as captives: the former has someone he can accuse against the outcome of war, the latter, besides himself, does not have anyone to accuse. Nothing is more intolerable than this misery, which cannot be excused. Conscience exacerbates the burden of wrongdoing.

Then he reflects within himself, then he recalls the Scriptures, then he says: Is it not written to me: Drink water from your own vessels, and from the springs of your own wells (Prov. V, 15). What do I have to do with the well of a moneylender, where water is also contained (Prov. XV, 17). Vegetables were sweeter with security than feasts of others eaten with anxiety. It was not necessary to seek what belongs to others. Then I had fallen into debts, it was necessary for me to seek a solution from my own sources. There were finer dishes at home: it was better to lack service than food: it was better to offer a garment for sale than to offer liberty. What good did it do me to be ashamed of my poverty? Look, someone else has published it. I did not want to sell my nurturers, look, someone else is selling them.

This should be a thoughtful consideration. Then it was fitting to fear for your own when you received the property of others: then it was fitting to help when the initial wounds were healing. It would have been better at the beginning to reduce expenses and alleviate the necessity of debt in family matters, rather than becoming enriched by borrowing from others for a short time, and later being stripped of your own possessions.

Caput VI.

How many loan sharks are plotting; to prey on unsuspecting teenagers.

23. We accuse the debtor for behaving imprudently, but nonetheless nothing is more wicked than the moneylenders, who consider others' losses as their own gains, and attribute to themselves whatever is possessed by others. They target new heirs, they explore wealthy young men through their own contacts, they attach themselves, pretending to have the same friendship as their fathers and grandfathers, they want to know their domestic needs. If they find any cause, they accuse their modesty, they argue their shame, because it was not expected or assumed earlier about themselves. But if they do not encounter any traps of necessity, they weave illusions, saying that a noble estate is for sale, a spacious house: they pile up the proceeds of fruits, they exaggerate annual income, they encourage people to buy. They do the same with precious clothes, and boasting about noble jewels. When someone denies having money, they insert their own, saying: Use it as your own: with the fruits of the purchased possession you will multiply the price, you will repay the debt.


24. They pretend to offer the young man someone else's properties, so that they may strip him of his own: they set up nets, so that once he has entered the spaces surrounded by the snare, they force him into the nets of obligations and the snares of usury: they demand that he be bound by surety for them, his honor and his father's tomb: a day is stipulated for repayment, but the agreement is concealed, whenever the repayment can be delayed; once they have made him feel secure enough, they suddenly attack and press him harder, accusing him and saying: You possess your own estates, but we do not have our own money: we gave gold, but we hold on to wood: you enjoy the benefits of the fruits, but nothing is added to our money. Idle causation, at least let the document be renewed.

Caput VII.

How anxiously the debtor may flee from the moneylender, and what manner of encounter occurs between them: how, with the receipt of this delay, he becomes more entangled and compelled to sell his property: and finally, abandoned by all and prepared for chains, he falls into despair.


25. Therefore, while still a young man, he thinks nothing of selling his clothes or even his possessions in order to accomplish these things. Interest is added to the principal, accumulating to a hundredth part. Now he begins to sigh, now he recognizes his misfortune. Day and night he thinks of interest: whatever comes up, he considers it a usurer; whatever makes a noise, he hears the voice of the moneylender. If you have it, why don't you pay? If you don't have it, why do you join one evil to another and seek a remedy for your wound? Why do you endure the daily siege of a usurer, yet fear his defeat? The ancient saying is this: The Lord watches over both the usurer and the debtor who oppose each other. One is like a dog seeking its prey, the other like a wild beast avoiding the predator. The usurer, like a lion, seeks whom to devour, while the debtor, like a young ox, fears the attack of the predator. The usurer, like a hawk with its talons, seeks to seize its prey, while the debtor, like a goose or coot, prefers to throw themselves off a cliff or sink into deep waters rather than endure the usurer, the predator of the human body. What do you flee from every day? And if a moneylender does not meet you, then poverty meets you like a good runner. Therefore, the Lord sees both the moneylender and the debtor: he looks at both of them as they meet, a witness to one's wickedness, the other's injustice: he condemns the greed of the one, the foolishness of the other. The moneylender counts each step of the debtor, taking a detour: the debtor immediately after the columns obscures his head. For the debtor has no authority. Both calculation is repeated more often in the fingers of interest. Equal concern, but different emotions. One rejoices in the increase of interest, the other is afflicted with a pile of debt. The former counts profits, the latter counts hardships.

26. Why do you flee the man whom you could and should not fear? Why do you flee, and how long will you flee? If someone knocks at night, you think it's the moneylender and hide under the bed immediately; if you sense someone entering suddenly, you leap outside. The dog barks, and your heart beats, sweat pours, panting shakes your limbs; you wonder what excuse to use to postpone the moneylender, and when you have obtained a delay, you rejoice. The moneylender pretends to be reluctant to extend the loan, but he willingly grants it, like a hunter who has trapped his prey, he is safe. You kiss the head, embrace the knees, and like a deer struck by a poisoned arrow, you proceed a little, then, defeated by the venom, you fall. Or like a fish that has been pierced by a spear, wherever it flees, it carries the wound. And truly that fish devours death as its food, it swallows the hook while seeking food; but still it does not see the hook, which the prey covers: you see the hook, and you swallow it. Your hook is the interest of the creditor: you swallow the hook, but the worm always gnaws at you. It is the bait that deceives. Therefore both for you is the snare and no food is of use, and the hook is for injury. Do you not know that once entangled in a knot, one binds oneself more if they flee; and when placed within nets, they only throw the nets upon themselves more by fleeing? You flee into the streets, when you cannot be safe within the walls. The moneylender will find you when he pleases. Finally, when the time is fulfilled, like a wolf at night, he does not allow you to sleep, he drags you out to the public on the awaited day, or he forces you to subscribe to the contract of sale. In order to steal away from modesty, you subscribe immediately to sell an ancestral tomb, certainly so that something of modesty is feigned: a barren field is bought, and it is boasted that she has sold something unfruitful, burdened the debtor with expenses, and losses of previous times are attributed to present expenses. Soon even praised things are sold and not only instruments, but also chains are brought in.

27. However, they still seek guarantors. Truces are granted not so that liberty may find its prey, but so that it may join a partner in servitude, who will share in its hardships. But how can the addition of another's calamity bring relief? Now even friends flee, guests do not recognize; even his own presence is shunned by everyone, and just as a boxer avoids the various blows of his opponents, so he avoids encounters with honorable men, anxious that, if he happens to encounter someone, he will depart quickly from their gaze. He returns prepared for chains, he returns desiring death, thinking that if he were to die, he would bring himself rest. He returns wretchedly, condemning himself for not refusing other people's money and for binding himself with the moneylender's debt.

28. Oh how many wretched people have been made destitute by the goods of others! Why, Jeremiah says, do you drink the water of Geon? Why, I ask, do you drink from the cup of the moneylender? Many, he says, borrowed for a time, and looked after their own needs, and repaid the money. And how many of them strangled themselves because of interest! You consider those, but you do not count these: you remember those who escaped, but you do not remember those who perished: you count the money returned, but you do not count the traps set, which most people, more modestly preferring insult to ugly submission, more fragilely preferring injury to destruction, embraced as a desired end, fearing the disgrace of life more than the punishment of death.

Caput VIII.

To sell children as slaves to pay off paternal debts is the utmost indignity: but no one can help in this evil, since the greed of the moneylender cannot be satisfied; for Scripture explains this matter and at the same time shows that usury is the occasion of sin.

29. I have seen a pitiful spectacle, children being led to auction for their father's debt, and the heirs of a misfortune being held who were not participants in the inheritance; and this immense shame does not make the creditor blush. He insists, he presses, he adds. Let my money, he says, feed the children, let them recognize servitude as sustenance, let them undergo bidding for expenses. Let the spear be wielded for the prices of each individual. The spear is wielded not undeservedly when the head is sought: not undeservedly is the auction reached when fate demands it. This is the inhumanity of the moneylender, this is the foolishness of the debtor, that he takes away freedom from the children to whom he does not leave money, that he exchanges a handwritten will for a written obligation for the inheritance. What does the curse of the father on his children mean, where there is no offense of impious sin? Can there be any curse more harsh, any slavery more severe? And often the deceased enjoys benefits after death that do not concern the miseries of his children.


30. The father often sells his children by the authority of his lineage, but not by the voice of compassion. With a shameful face, he drags the wretched to the auction, saying: Pay the price, O sons of gluttony, pay the price of the paternal table. Vomit what you have not devoured, return what you have not received; in this way, you redeem your father with your own price, and you acquire paternal freedom through your servitude.

Let someone come forward who can help. Who can fill such a great Charybdis? Who can understand the reasoning of a moneylender? Who can satisfy greed? Which person does not exaggerate prices, when they see the buyers? For he is not nourished so much by his own profit as by the detriment of others. Truly, it is true, as it is a divine saying, of God, who when he was angry because of the impiety of the Jewish people, because they were turning away to foreign gods: To whom, he says, have I sold you as a debtor (Isaiah 50:1)? For one who is bound to a lender is sold, and is sold not for a single price, but for a daily one: it is sold not with a specification, but with continuous addition. A new auction of interest for each month, a new sale under daily bidding. Whoever offers the most always wins, he is assigned as for sale, never is he estimated as if sold. Therefore, the power of the heavenly sentence is great. The Lord did not judge it sufficient to say: To whom did I sell you; but he added: to the lender? Offended, he could not find anything more serious to avenge against the treacherous ones. Abandoned, he demands why they have fled from the author of their own salvation, as if the Lord had sold them to someone like a loan shark deserving of punishment. Those who have abandoned the Lord have servants who fear more than the punishments and chains of prison: they have children who fear the carelessness of their own freedom.

Moreover, take note that the subject of usury has been judged as a matter of prevarication; that one easily strays from the Lord, who could bind himself to a usurer. For usury is the root of falsehood, the cause of treachery. 'I did not sell you,' he says, 'but you were sold by your own sins.' Therefore, he who binds himself to a usurer sells himself; and what is worse, he sells himself not for money, but for guilt.

Caput IX.

It is a sin for a moneylender to be a devil, who even shows off his riches to the Savior; he is not unlike a moneylender; and there he speaks of the hundredth of interest, and a hundredth of a sheep; and of the true collector who imposes on himself the name of creditor.

33. Who is this lender of sin, if not the devil, from whom Eve borrowed the sin of a guilty succession and with interest brought all of humanity into ruin? As if a wicked lender, he held the handwriting which the Lord later destroyed with his own blood. For what was written with the pen of death should have been dissolved by death. Therefore, the devil is the lender. Moreover, he showed his riches to the Savior, saying: 'All these things I will give you if you fall down and worship me.' (Matthew 4:9). But the Lord, the liberator of the air, owed nothing to anyone who could say, 'Behold, the ruler of this world is coming, and he finds nothing of his own in me' (John 14:30). He owed nothing, but he paid for everyone, as he himself testifies, saying, 'What I did not seize, then I paid for' (Psalm 69:5).

34. What is the difference of the malice of this world's prince? The moneylender binds the head, holds the hand, takes by lot. O sad name from sweet! The Lord has freed the one hundredth sheep; that hundredth is of salvation, this of death; and the good land yields a hundredfold fruit. Woe to those who say that bitter is sweet, and sweet is bitter! What is more bitter than usury, what is sweeter than grace? Should they not, by this very word by which they call it the hundredth, call to mind the Redeemer who came to save the hundredth sheep, not to lose it?


35. Who is the more severe tax collector? And what a sad name. Finally the Lord says: My people, your tax collectors oppress you (Isaiah 3:14). And in the Gospel you have: While you go with your adversary to the magistrate, make an effort to be delivered from him; lest he bring you to the judge, and the judge deliver you to the tax collector, and the tax collector put you in prison (Luke 12:58). Recognize this tax collector, who even demands the last penny, and calls himself a creditor, and in this name also commits fraud: like one who smears poison cups with honey, so that death may lie hidden under a pleasing smell, and the lips of the cup hide the power of deceit. The creditor is concealed as if faithful; and as if incredulous, to whom the faithful person pledges.

Caput X.

The story of the debtor's executor preventing the debtor's body from being carried to burial.

How often have I seen the deceased held by usurers as collateral, and denied a burial, while interest is demanded? To this I willingly agreed, so that they could coerce their debtor, so that with him chosen, the surety could be released; for these are the laws of a usurer. Therefore, I said: Hold onto your defendant; and so that he cannot escape from you, lead him home, confine him in your chamber, harsher than executioners; for the prison does not receive the one you hold, the collector absolves; after death, the prison releases the guilty of their sins, but you confine them; by the severity of the law, the deceased is acquitted, but held by you. Certainly here he mentions having fulfilled his fate; however, I do not envy, keep your pledge. There is no difference between a funeral and usury, no difference between death and fate: the usury echoes the funeral wail. Now truly he is a diminished head whom you convene; yet bind him with stronger bonds, lest your chains go unnoticed: the debtor is tough and rigid, and no longer knows how to blush. There is indeed one thing you cannot fear, because he does not know how to ask for sustenance.


37. Therefore, the body of Jussi was lifted and led to the house of the moneylender to carry out the order of the funeral rites. But even from there, the closed doors resounded with such mournful groans. You would also believe that there was a funeral, that the dead were being mourned: the sentiment was not wrong, except that it was clear that more people were destined to die there. The moneylender, driven by the custom of his religion (for elsewhere even such things are said to be accepted as collateral), asked that the remains be taken to the place of the tomb; it was only then that I saw the moneylenders burdened with humanity; nevertheless, I mentioned their humanity to foresee that they would not later complain of being deceived, until they bent their necks to the bier and themselves led the deceased to the graves, mourning their money's funeral with a heavier sorrow.

Caput XI.

Interest is also demanded from gamblers, whose fortune varies in play, but the profit goes to the moneylender. How great is the tyranny of these people over the gamblers, and what laws govern them. Lastly, the madness of certain barbarians is described in relation to gambling.


Take another thing of no lesser bitterness. These people observe gatherings of gamblers and consider it advantageous for the loser: they bet on each individual. Luck plays a role at first, victory often transfers to different people, and their rewards and hardships are constantly changing: they all both win and are defeated, only the moneylender profits. The empty name of victory belongs to others, but the moneylender alone receives the benefits, not yearly, but momentary; they alone gain profit at the expense of all, they alone have the interest of victory. You see the others suddenly needy, suddenly wealthy, and then naked, changing their state with every throw. For their life revolves like a dice; the census rolls on the board, danger becomes a game, and from the game comes danger: as many proposals, so many proscriptions. The applause of the applauders, the weeping of the plundered, the groans of the mourners. Among them sits the creditor like a tyrant, condemning each one with a capital sentence, waving his spear, establishing a funeral auction from the spoils of each individual: some are added to the proscription, others to slavery: those killed under tyrants are not worth so much. Therefore, this game of life is more properly called a gamble than a monetary transaction; it is carried on in an instant, yet its effects may last forever. Drunkenness makes decisions, and no one disputes them. The game of chance also has its own rules, which are not subject to the laws of the courtroom. It is noteworthy, if it can be believed, that infamy awaits those who think resistance is futile, and the judgment of infamy inflicts a greater disgrace than a judicial condemnation; for those who are condemned by them are esteemed glorious by the judge, while those who are condemned by the judge are considered criminals by them. Moses, the elder, established the judgment of the elders (Exodus XVIII): yet they judged of lighter matters; the weighty matter, that is, the more important affairs, they were accustomed to reserve for Moses' judgment. It is said here: You have judged the counsel of lions, and their power is more feared than lions. Among these wild beasts, you live and move. You take food from these animals, you are considered more terrifying than them, you are feared more cruelly than them.

39. They say that the peoples of the Chuni wage war against everyone for reasons, but are subject to moneylenders; and although they live without laws, they obey only the laws of gambling, playing dice and carrying them in their equipment, and dying more often from their own throws than from those of the enemy: in their victory they become captive, and suffer the spoils of their own people, which they do not know how to suffer from the enemy: therefore they never give up their desire for war; because when defeated in gambling, having lost the entire prize of the plunder, they require the support of gambling in danger of war: but they are often carried away with such ardor, that when defeated in the things which they alone value highly, they surrender their weapons to a single throw of dice and surrender their own life to the power either of the victor or of the moneylender. Finally, it was decided that one of them, known to the Roman emperor for his loyalty, would pay the price of servitude that he had brought upon himself through such unfortunate circumstances, by enduring the tortures of an ordered death. Therefore, the moneylender also crushes the necks of the Chuni people, and he presses them onto the iron, oppressing the barbarians with the terror of his cruelty.

Caput XII.

On the collection of interest by moneylenders, and the various terms they use. Their money is compared to an echidna and other serpents; where the Greeks have said τόκους, it is explained.

40. For what is more foul than he who lends money today and demands it back tomorrow? And (Eccles. 20:16) he says, such a man is hateful. The offering may be pleasant, but the exaction is monstrous. Yet it is the very kindness of the offering that causes the cruelty of the exaction: he lends money, demands security, and hides it away in his storehouses. One sum of money is given by the lenders, but how many are demanded from the borrowers? How many terms have they made for themselves? A coin is given, it's called interest; a lot is spoken of, it's called principal; a debt is recorded, it's called borrowed money. This enormous curiosity of many principal sums effects a numerous exaction: it is called a bond, it is called an IOU, it demands securities, it takes pledges, it calls itself trust, it asserts an obligation, it proclaims interest, it praises the hundredth part.


41. Echidna is a certain moneylender's money, which produces such great evils. However, Echidna, fertile in suffering, tears apart her own bowels in childbirth. And in her maternal death, she teaches her offspring not to be degenerate towards their mother. Therefore, they begin to be serpents, they tear her apart with their bites. There, where the venom is born, it is first tested. But the money of the moneylender conceives, bears, nurtures all its evils, and itself grows more in its own offspring, more numerous in sad brood. Not less winding than a serpent, and gathering itself into a circle, in order to preserve its head: with the rest of its body, it lashes out, it only extends its head for wounds: with its huge coils it binds those it has seized, it kills with its head alone: its head remaining safe, even if the rest of its body has been torn apart, it revives.

42. There are also different times for snakes to come together and give birth: money, from the day the agreement is entered into, creeps with increasing interest, which does not know how to give birth; because it transfers more of its own pain to others. There the pains are like those of a woman in labor; hence the Greeks also called interest "τόκοι", because they seem to stimulate the pains of the debtor's soul giving birth. The first of the month comes, fate gives birth to the hundredth part: each month comes, interest is generated, the offspring of evil parents' evils. This is the generation of vipers. The hundredth grows, it seeks and is not released, it is applied to chance. It becomes a prophetic curse (Ps. 54:12), deceit with deceit, the offspring of the wicked seed worsens through usury. Therefore, it is no longer the beginning of the hundredth, but the sum, that is, not the hundredth of interest, but the interest of the hundredth.

Caput XIII.

Following the etymology of usury, it shows that usury itself is more fruitful than the very hares and any plants, and surpasses all other things with the greed of the moneylender: then it returns to the established comparison of usury with animals and plants.

43. I also believe that interest is derived from use, just as clothing is derived from use, and so patrimonies are divided by interest. The mournful wax represents the first letter. It gives birth to the voice of suffering: what good can come to you that begins with pain and obligation? They say that hares both generate and raise offspring, and they give birth continuously: interest is also generated and over-generated by these anaglyphic figures of usury, it is nourished and born, and having been born, it gives birth. The roots of trees are first planted in order to take hold: once they have taken hold, they begin to grow green, and then to sprout. But money planted with usury barely sprouts. Seeds burst forth in due season, animals give birth in due season: there is a time to give birth, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to uproot what is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal (Ecclesiastes 3:2-3). And further: a time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away (Ibid., 6), as the Preacher says: money planted with usury is sown today, it fructifies tomorrow: it always bears fruit, and never perishes: it is always planted, and is hardly uprooted. He wants always to acquire, never to lose: never to keep his money, always to spend: never to heal, always to kill.

And because the book of Ecclesiastes by Solomon is a good teacher for all things, let us linger on it for a moment: The eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor is the ear satisfied with hearing (Eccl. 1:8); neither is the lender satisfied with receiving, nor is his desire for counting money satisfied with hearing (Eccl. 1:8). And again: What has been is what will be (Ibid., 1:9); money always increases, greed knows no leisure, usury knows no holidays. All, he says, the torrents go into the sea, and the sea is not filled (cf. Ecclesiastes 1:7). That sea is a lender; it absorbs everyone's patrimony like waves, and itself does not know how to be satisfied. Yet many people use the sea for profit, but no one uses a lender except for expense: there is benefit for many there, but here there is shipwreck for all.

There are many living things that begin to reproduce quickly, but also quickly cease to reproduce: fate quickly generates and never ceases; indeed, when it receives the beginning of growth, it extends the increase infinitely. Then, everything that grows, when it reaches its own nature, form, measure, and magnitude, is free from further growth: but the money of lenders is always increasing with time, and it does not hold to the limit beyond the extent of maternal fate. Moreover, most animals, when they begin to generate offspring from what has arisen from them, as if their powers had become exhausted, lose the ability to reproduce: but the interest-bearing capital, when it has been equalized with the growing hundreds, renews its old age and multiplies its usual yields by addition.

Caput XIV.

Interest is prohibited by divine law, from which the saying of Cato comes, lending money at interest is to kill a man. Clothing accepted as a pledge must be returned before nightfall; and by the term interest, it is understood anything demanded beyond the principal: after which follows the condemnation of the rich for their extortion from their dependents.


46. This is not a new or perfunctory evil, which is prohibited by the prescription of the old and divine law. The people who plundered Egypt, who crossed the sea on foot, are warned to beware of the money of usury. And when it has once or with much repetition prescribed other sins, it has often warned about usury. You have it in Exodus: And if you lend money to a beggar, an orphan, a poor person, you shall not suffocate him, you shall not impose interest on him (Exod. XXII, 25). He shows what it is to suffocate, that is, to impose interest; for he strangles and, what is worse, the soul of the creditor with a noose: in this way he expresses both the violence of a robber and the ugly knot of death. But if you have taken as a pledge the garment of your neighbor, you shall return it before sunset; for that is his covering only, that is his garment of shame in which he will sleep. But if he cries out to me, I will hear him. Have you heard, money-lenders, what the Law says, of which the Lord said: I have not come to abolish the Law, but to fulfill it (Matthew 5:17)? What the Lord did not abolish, do you abolish? To seek interest, he says, is suffocation. This too was said late abroad by some of their wise men: What is money-lending? To kill a man, he says (Cicero, book II of Offices, at the end). But certainly not Cato before Moses, who received the law. He came much later.


47. If you shall receive as a pledge the garment of your neighbor, you shall restore it before sunset, lest his shame appear when he is naked (Exod. XXII, 26 and 27). But you strip and leave naked, and do not restore. See that the sun does not set upon your greed, lest the sun of justice set upon you; for you do not hold justice, or the sun of iniquity may be hidden upon your crimes. The day also perishes unwillingly, the night rushes in like the Jews, who when the devil had sent himself into their hearts, rose up to betrayal, and night came; for the sun of justice had set upon them, and had set upon them. He who entered his heart, made darkness for him, so that he did not see the author of light. There the wretched man perished in that banquet in which others are saved. Therefore, return the debtor's clothing, in which he may sleep and be at peace. If you are unwilling to return it, I will hear him, for I am merciful. If you do not hear him, I will hear him, I will have mercy, I will not despise the prayer of the needy.

48. In Deuteronomy it is also written: You shall not exact interest from your brother on money, interest on food, or interest on anything that is lent. You may exact interest from a foreigner, but not from your brother (Deut. XXIII, 19 and 20). You see how significant these words are. Do not, it says, exact interest from your brother, that is, from someone with whom you should have everything in common, you exact interest from him? Your brother, partner of nature and heir of grace, do not demand more from him whom it is difficult to retrieve what you have given, unless he has the means to repay.

49. And because many people, when they lend money to merchants, do not demand interest on the money, but receive benefits from their goods as if they were interest (Commentary on the Sentences, dist. 14, q. 3, c. Plerique), let them hear what the Law says: You shall not take interest from your brother on food or on anything that may be lent at interest. For this deceit and circumvention of the Law, not observance, is it. And do you think you are acting piously because you receive a gift from a merchant? Therefore, he commits fraud in the price of goods, from which he pays you interest. You are the author of that fraud, you are a participant, whatever he cheats benefits you. And food is interest, and clothing is interest, and whatever comes to chance is interest: whatever name you wish to give it, it is interest. If it is lawful, why do you refuse the term, why do you hide under a cover? If it is unlawful, why do you seek profit?

50. What is worse, this is a vice of many people, and especially the wealthy, who fill their cellars for this purpose. If someone thinks of organizing a feast, they send a message to the merchant to bring them the cup of absinthe free of charge: they direct themselves to the innkeeper to inquire about Picenum wine or Tyrian wine: they go to the butcher to procure meat: they go to someone else to adorn themselves with fruit. And so they consider these acts as acts of kindness, which are sustained by the danger of others. You drink, and another person is dissolved in tears: you feast, and you choke others with your food: you delight in music, and another person laments with miserable howls: you taste fruit, and another person devours thorns. Do they gather grapes from thorns, or figs from thistles? A thorn is for use, a hundredth thorn is interest, a thistle is interest, it burns badly. So how can you bear fruit from thorns? If this fruit does not grow from thorns, that eternal one will be born. You enrich yourself from hardships, you seek profit from tears, you feed on another's hunger, you forge silver from the spoils of stripped men: and you judge yourself rich, when you demand alms from a poor person? But listen to what the Savior says: Woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. (Luke VI, 24).

Caput XV.

It is only permitted to demand interest from a stranger, that is, someone who may be killed: a brother, however, who is a partner in faith or in law, is never permitted to be charged interest. Any interest is prohibited, and blessings are given to those who refrain from it, with an exhortation to mercy and truth.


51. But perhaps you will say that it is written: You shall charge interest to foreigners (Deut. XXIII, 20); and you do not consider what the Gospel says, which is more complete. But for now let us consider the words of the Law itself: You shall not charge interest to your brother, it says, but you may charge interest to a foreigner. Who were the foreigners at that time, if not the Amalekites, if not the Amorites, if not the enemies? Charge interest there, it says. To whom you wish to harm rightly, to whom weapons are properly directed, to him interest is legitimately imposed. Whom you cannot easily defeat in war, from this one you can quickly take revenge. Demand interest from one who it is not a crime to kill. He who demands interest fights without a sword; he who was an exacting usurious enemy avenges himself without a sword. Therefore, where there is the right of war, there is also the right of interest. But your brother is the entirety, first of faith, then of Roman law: I will proclaim your name to my brothers, I will praise you in the midst of the Church (Ps. XXI, 23).


52. Finally, even in Leviticus, the Law prescribes that interest should not be demanded from a brother. For you have it thus: And your brother shall live with you, you shall not give him your money at interest, nor shall you give him your food to be received back in abundance (Lev. 25:36). Generally, this divine sentiment excluded every kind of increase. Hence, David also considered it blessed and worthy of heavenly habitation, who did not give money at interest (Ps. 14:5). If therefore he who has not given, is blessed; without a doubt he who has given for interest is cursed. Why therefore do you choose curse rather than blessing? You can be blessed if you want, you can be just. For a just man, according to Ezekiel (Ezek. XVIII, 7), is one who returns a pledge to the debtor, and does not give his money for interest, and does not receive surplus, and turns away his hand from injustice: This man is just, he will live by life, says the Lord (Ibid., 9). Whoever does not give back the pledge, and sets his eyes on idols, commits iniquity, gives with usury, and accepts excess, this one shall not live. All these iniquities he has committed, he shall die in death: his blood shall be upon him. See how he has joined the moneylender with the idolater, as if he were equating the crime. Therefore, choose what is sweet.

Why are you always sad, why are you always most bitter, why are you always anxious? Let mercy sometimes proceed from you, let truth proceed: let lying be condemned, let fraud be hated. You have taught perjury: a loan is called a sacrament, where perjury is prepared. You often prepare it when the money has been returned, so that the contract does not appear: afterwards you swear that you did not receive the money. Therefore, do not always be miserable, always greedy, always mournful. The lions are, and they change their fierceness: 'Out of the eater came forth meat, and out of the strong came forth sweetness' (Judges 14:14); 'It is Greek to me, and it is sad; thus we find.' However, this is understood in reference to the strong; because a lion is strong in fierceness, and he who is wild is sad. And may mercy come forth from you who devour money and greed; for this is the food of the needy: and may sweetness come forth from sadness, so that you may pardon him who has nothing with which to pay. Why do you drag out sins like a long rope and the yoke of calves unceasingly? This happens, of course, when you extend interest. You hold on to a poor debtor, either out of some favor or where there is no hope of profit. And I say this according to your greed.

Caput XVI.

From an evangelical precept, we must lend to those from whom nothing is expected, even to enemies: the most fruitful interest is that which is lent to the Lord: and one must not doubt his poverty, which bestows true wealth.


54. Moreover, the Lord in the Gospel thinks that lending should be done more to those from whom repayment is not expected. For he says: And if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners in order to receive back the same amount. But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful (Luke 6:34-35). Note that you have received the name 'lender' from the Lord, and the one who is obligated to your loan also has that name. Sinners lend to sinners in order to receive back what was lent. In this transaction, both the sinner and the lender become debtors. But you, love your enemies. Do not debate what your enemies deserve, but rather, what you should do. Give to those from whom you do not expect to receive, and what is given will be returned to you. There is no loss here, but gain. Giving the minimum, you will receive much: giving on earth, and it will be repaid to you in heaven; you lose interest, but you will have great reward; by ceasing to be lenders, you will become sons of the Most High; be merciful, for you will be proven as heirs of the eternal Father.

55. But you delight in the title of moneylenders and usurers. I do not envy you for that either. I will teach you how you can be good moneylenders, how you can seek good interest. Solomon says: He who lends to the Lord shows mercy to the poor, and his loan will be repaid to him (Prov. XIX, 17). Behold, a good profit is made from evil: behold, an irreproachable moneylender: behold, praiseworthy interest. Therefore, do not consider me envious of your benefits anymore. Do you think that I will take away a debtor from you? God provides, I substitute Christ, I show him who cannot defraud you. Therefore, generously give your money to the poor in the hand of the Lord. He is obligated and bound: he writes down whatever he has received from the needy: his caution is the Gospel: he promises for all the needy, he declares faith; why do you hesitate to give? If someone from this world's riches offers himself, promising his faith for a debtor, immediately give him the money: the Lord of heaven is poor to you, and the creator of this world; and yet you deliberate whom you seek as a wealth guarantor.


56. But he became poor, though he was rich, for our sake. Therefore, you see that his faith is rich, his faith is sufficient; he became poor, so that he could pay for us, and even poverty itself did not deceive him; for he made the rich whom you considered to be poor. For the Apostle says: He became poor, though he was rich, so that you may be enriched through his poverty (II Cor. VIII, 9). It is a good poverty, which bestows riches. Do not therefore fear poverty, so that you may be rich. Give idle money, and you will receive fruitful grace, and you will support the needs of the poor, and the burden of care will be lessened for you. What the poor receive will not perish; and what you give to the needy will be preserved without a guardian. But if you seek an increase of interest, in the Law there is a blessing, in the Gospel there is a heavenly reward: what is sweeter than a blessing; what is greater than heaven? If the use of food is desired, it is also available, as we read: For he who has compassion on the poor, he himself will be fed (Prov. 22:9).

Caput XVII.

There is an objection, in which some deny that it is generally prohibited to retain a pledge, but they restrict it to the pledges of the poor according to the Law.


Therefore, return the pledges that you hold, since you have found a suitable guarantor. But they are still murmuring, saying that even though they can hold pledges, they defend themselves with the Law. For they say: It is written in Deuteronomy: If you have any debt from your neighbor, you shall not enter his house to take a pledge, but you shall stand outside, and the man to whom you owe the debt shall bring the pledge to you outside. But if that man is poor, you shall not sleep in his pledge; rather, you shall return the pledge to him at sunset, and he shall sleep in his own garment, and he shall bless you, and there shall be mercy for you in the presence of the Lord your God (Deut. XXIV, 10 et seq.). And elsewhere, it is said: You shall not take a millstone as a pledge, nor the upper millstone of a mill; for he is using it as a pledge (Ibid., 6). And elsewhere: You shall not take a widow's garment as a pledge (Ibid., 17). From this they argue that specific pledges are prohibited, not all of them, that is, those of the poor and the widow. It is also forbidden to take a millstone and the upper millstone of a mill as a pledge.

But when the Lord Himself says through the prophet Ezechiel (Ezech. XVIII, 7) that the one who returns a pledge is just, and the one who withholds it is unjust, He clearly suggests that not just some specific pledge, but every pledge should be returned. When Job says: 'I used to lay down a law against anyone who had a complaint against me, and I would wear a crown as I read it aloud. If I didn't give back what was owed to me, I took nothing from the debtor' (Job. XXXI, 26-27). Since the Lord commands us to not expect anything in return from those to whom we have given a loan (Luc. VI, 34), how can they believe that a pledge should be retained according to the Law?

Caput XVIII.

In order to respond sufficiently to those who argue that we are prompted by divine law to engage in usury, it is asked what a just person, for example Peter, could give as interest; and it is shown that those are his words which he lends at interest.


59. But lest they should now break out again in the same manner, and should say that they are also incited to usury by the oracle of the Law, because it is written, Thou shalt lend to many nations, but thou shalt not borrow (Deut. XXVIII, 12); it is a fitting time to discuss and teach more fully and expressly what is to be lent on interest, and what regulations the Law prescribes concerning it; for the cause of interest precedes the cause of the pledge. 'The sinner,' it is said, 'shall borrow, and shall not pay: but the righteous showeth mercy, and giveth' (Ps. XXXVI, 21). Listen, debtor, to what you ought to avoid: listen, creditor, to what you ought to imitate. And below: I was young, and I grew old, and I have not seen the just forsaken, nor his seed seeking bread. All day long he shows mercy and lends (Ibid., 25). So why does this just man lend all day long? Therefore, the just man is rich; and the richer each individual is, the more just he is: whoever has more to lend, he himself will be more just. But it is difficult for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.


60. So tell me, holy David, what did he lend for? He presented testimony against me, unless you come to my aid. Peter said: I have no silver or gold (Acts 3:6), was he not just? Therefore, explain to me what he lent. For you have said: Blessed is the man who has mercy and lends; he will order his words with judgment (Psalm 112:5). I found what the just man lent. Let Peter himself also teach me what he lent, who said to the poor man looking at him and John: I have no silver or gold. Therefore, will you give nothing to the poor, apostle? You do give, and you give more than others: you give to the needy, which others cannot give: you give to the needy, so that they may not be in need: you give to the needy, which even the rich desire to receive: you give to the needy, which those who possess silver and gold do not know how to bestow; because greed hinders them: you give to the needy, so that you may make them richer than those rich. You have stirred my soul, I desire this gift of yours. Tell me, I ask, what you give. Do not keep me in suspense for long, I desire to ask, if you quickly solve. But you have solved quickly: you did not delay the needy, you did not despise the prayer of the poor, you did not make him despair for longer, you did not go up to the temple empty-handed saying: I have no silver and gold. Not only do those with silver and gold go up with full hands, but also the poor one goes up not empty-handed: he goes up and he is not empty, because he does not have gold and silver. Let us hear what that poor man has to give: But what I have, he says, I give to you. In the name of Jesus of Nazareth, rise and walk (Ibid.). O desired poverty; O richer than need! The one who limped, to whom the rich gave, the poor man gave and immediately the lame man became well.

So the righteous person has what to lend, and has silver to lend, and lends his own words: this is the silver of the righteous; for the words of the Lord, pure words, are silver tested by fire, refined seven times. This he lends who accepts the Law, who meditates on the Law, who practices the Law: this Peter lent, this Paul lent, to whom it is said that they should go to the men of the nations. To Cornelius the centurion, Peter says: Rise, go without hesitation, for I have sent them; and he rose and went (Acts 10:20). And below it says: Can we forbid water that these, who have received the Holy Spirit, be baptized? And He commanded them to be baptized. This is: You will lend to the nations, that you may forgive sins, erase debts: but you will not borrow. For the sinner borrows, and he does not pay off his sins; for he is a sinner. It is said by Paul: You will lend to the nations, who has been sent to the nations; it is said to John: You will lend to the nations; it is said to James and the others: You will lend to the nations; to whom it has been said: Go, baptize the nations.


62. It is said to the people of the fathers: If you keep the commandments of God, you will be blessed, and you will lend to the nations, and you will not borrow the word (Deut. XXVIII. 12). Finally, the following are not said about money: You will be the chief among many nations, but no one will dominate you. The Lord your God will establish you as the head, and not the tail, and then you will be above and not below, if you obey the voice of the Lord your God (Ibid., 13). And it follows: But if you do not listen, you will be cursed in the city, and cursed in the field (Ibid., 16). And below: 'Cursed is the offspring of your womb' (Ibid., 18). It is not money that makes a person blessed, but knowledge of God, preaching of the word: if we lend the grace of the Lord, if we share the words of the Lord with the needy, if we observe heavenly commandments. And on the other hand, lack of money that can be lent does not bring a curse, but lack of devotion, lack of observance of heavenly statutes. You will be cursed.

Caput XIX.

The Jews first lent money to the nations, and afterwards the nations, who believed in Christ, repaid them when they had lost their own money. The praise of this money, and an exhortation to lend it, and how the nations were preferred to the Israelites in this matter.


63. Finally, the mystery of the Church is clearly expressed. For first he said to the disciple of the Law: If you hear the Law, and keep it, you will lend to the nations (Deut. XV, 6); which was done by our fathers. Moses lent to the nations, who acquired proselytes, Joshua lent, Gideon lent, Samuel lent, David lent, Solomon lent, Elijah lent, Elisha lent; and if anyone wanted to know the word, he went to them: the queen of the South came to hear the wisdom of Solomon.


64. When the people of the Jews began to not keep the Law, foreigners, that is, from the peoples who believed in the Lord Jesus, began to interpret the Scriptures for that ancient people. Timothy, who was of Greek descent by his father, lent his words to the Jews when he received the priesthood; today we priests in the Church lend our words to the Jews who have moved from the Synagogue to the Church; we also lend new and old money: indeed, what they had, they no longer have; they have eyes but do not see, they have ears but do not hear; they have money but do not have it, because they are ignorant of its use, they do not know its value, they have not recognized its appearance and form. For if they had known, they would never have denied the author of the money, saying: We do not want this man to reign over us (Luke, XIX, 14). But when he returned having received the kingdom, he commanded his servants to be called to whom he had given the money, and he preached to those who had lent the money: but to him who had kept his money idle, his master replied: You knew that I am a severe man, taking up what I did not lay down, and reaping what I did not sow: and why did you not put my money in the bank, so that when I came I could have collected it with interest? (Ibid., 22 and 23).


You have heard what money is good for a usurer, what money acquires good interest, what money does not defame the usurer, does not oppress the debtor, what money rust cannot cover, moth cannot penetrate, what money is not from earthly treasure, but from eternal, what money makes the recipient rich, and does not diminish the lender. This money has interest: not a hundredth part of what it gives as a portion, but it yields a hundredfold fruit. Therefore, expand the depths of your mind, so that you may receive the counted quantity of this money: focus the gaze of your heart, so that you may recognize the image and inscription of this money: certainly, examine this money, set it on the table above your soul, which is stable by virtues, establish it as a square, keep it in the treasury of your chest, from which a learned scribe draws out new and old. You see what kind of money this is, how it unites the names of creditor and debtor, which are hateful to each other. I was inveighing against the moneylenders, now I challenge the debtor. Therefore, I desire that you, moneylenders of this money, may hasten to those who take a loan, willingly: through which you may acquire not only money, but also a kingdom; through which you may seek not curses, but the grace of blessings.

66. This money was lent by the people of the nations, who knew how to borrow, who knew how to lend, who knew how to collect. You refused the poor in need of spiritual support, and you began to be in need. Therefore, it is said about you by the Son of God: The sinner will borrow and not repay (Psalm XXXVI, 21). It is said to you, the stranger within you, will rise above you, but you will descend to the depths (Deuteronomy XXVIII, 43). For he does not know the highest who does not know Christ; he is always in hell who does not ascend to Christ; but the people who receive the word are at the highest, they have the entire inheritance of faith. The Law says this about him: 'He will lend to you, and you will not lend to him; he will be the head, and you will be the tail.' (Ibid., 44), that is, he will be first, and you last and despised. 'I will take away from Judah the head and the tail, the beginning and the end: the beginning is Christ, who when asked who he was, replied: The beginning, which I also speak to you.' (John 8:25): and he also says that Christ is the end: for he is the end of the Law unto righteousness to everyone that believeth. (Romans 10:4). Therefore, he who does not believe in justice has neither beginning nor end, but is the end of himself.

Caput XX.

With the security of a pledge, it demonstrates that the spiritual pledge, which is ordered to be restored by law, must also be physically restored. Whoever hears the word of God is a debtor and the pledge should not be taken from them. Concerning the evangelical garments and the tunic that we are all commanded to wear. The word of God is a good garment; it is the pledge of the Lord's lot, it is the garment of wisdom; nevertheless, the word must be narrowed down.


67. We have known a legitimate interest, let us also know the pledge which the Law commands to be returned before sunset. Listen to the Apostle saying what this is: God has given the pledge of the Spirit in our hearts (II Cor. I, 22). And both pledge, and entrusted, and entrusted are said in three ways. They say pledge what is undertaken for a loan of money: entrusted, however, and entrusted what we have entrusted to someone for the sake of custody. Hence the Apostle says: I know whom I have believed, and I am sure, that he is able to guard my deposit until that day (II Tim. I, 12). He also taught about the deposit, saying: Preserve the good deposit through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us (Ibid., 14). Is the Holy Spirit the guardian of entrusted gold and silver, or is money preserved through the Holy Spirit? Therefore, the spiritual pledge is safeguarded by the Spirit, so that the birds of the sky do not come and take it away from our hearts.

Therefore, let us ask that Christ, who Himself gave this pledge, may guard it within us and preserve His entrusted treasure. For He received nothing from us but entrusted to us what was not ours. And therefore, he who violates another's entrusted treasure is harmed in his sense of honor. If we must not violate the entrusted pledge of a man with fraud, how much more fitting is it that we faithfully keep the divine and spiritual deposit, lest we suffer serious damages to our reputation and well-being.


69. This, therefore, is the pledge which the Law prohibits from being pledged, and violently taken away. For thus Scripture has it: If your neighbor owes you anything, you shall not enter his house to pledge the pledge; and the man to whom the debt is due, shall bring forth to you the pledge outside. But if that man is poor, you shall not sleep in his pledge, but you shall restore to him his pledge by sunset; and he shall sleep in his own clothing, and bless you, and it shall be mercy to you (Deuteronomy XXIV, 10 and following).


So you say to me: Behold the Law prohibits the removal of a pledge, not its acceptance: but it commands that it be returned to the poor, not to everyone. But Ezra also taught us about the bodily pledges, that now, moneylenders, you are not able to come against the profession of your fathers. For when those who had lent money were commanded, and they had taken the pledges of others, to return them, they said: We return them, and we seek nothing from them (Nehemiah 5:12). Good fathers, who established that the pledges of debtors should be returned: also good moneylenders who responded that they would both return the pledges and not require the money that they had given. And the judgment of your paternal position binds you to this, as well as the statement of the creditors.

71. There is, however, another pledge which the spiritual Law forbids to be taken away; and if it is given, it commands it to be returned before sunset: which the debtor repays, and he himself produced it. But the debtor is every one who hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it: the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. Therefore, do not enter into his house, so that you may receive that pledge. Woe to him who causes one of these little ones to stumble! If he has lost his pledge by his own foolishness, you will not have any blame. But if he is poor, return the pledge before sunset: the pledge is his clothing. If he seems rich to himself, he deceives himself, if he has given his pledge: but if he is poor and does not have the riches of the spirit, return his clothing to him before sunset.

72. If it were a matter of physical pledge, certainly it should have been repaid more so on a daily basis, so that the shame of a naked body would not be revealed in the daylight; for darkness does not reveal a naked body. And if this were the reason that the poor person did not have anything to cover themselves while sleeping, certainly they would have said that a cover or garment should be repaid. But now, by saying 'clothing', it signifies more specifically a tunic with which we are clothed and dressed. Therefore, give your tunic to the poor person, so that they may sleep in it at night.


73. Does it not seem to you that he signifies a poor man, who is commanded to go with one tunic, not to seek another, sent by Christ to preach the Gospel? For he is truly poor in spirit, who is able to sleep: for when one is satisfied with riches, there is no one to allow him to sleep. The poor one sleeps the sleep of resurrection, which the rich person cannot sleep, for he is suffocated by riches and pleasures. He sleeps the rest of Christ, who says: I have slept and have rested, and have risen. This is the tunic that was woven without seam, in which Christ was clothed, which those soldiers whom you know could not tear apart. For none of them tears the garment of Christ, but divides it, as it is written: They divided my garments among themselves, and for my clothing they cast lots (Ps. 22:18). The evangelists divided his garments among themselves, and for his clothing, that is, for the preaching of the Gospel with which the Lord Jesus is clothed even today, they cast lots. Certainly that fate, which fell upon Matthias, that he would be added to the number of the apostles as the twelfth, with the name of the traitor excluded, was well said. But it was well said about the evangelists because they cast lots; for the lot hangs, as it were, on divine examination. And therefore, because they did not speak by their own power, nor did they all say the same things; but most of them said different things, which the others did not say: we know that the grace of the Holy Spirit, like a lot, gave them those things to speak individually about the works of the Lord Jesus; so that they would divide His deeds among themselves to be described according to His will.


74. And there is that tunic which the Apostle shows, saying: Put on the Lord Jesus (Rom. I, 3, 14). This is the tunic which covers our shameful things and surrounds them with greater honor in Christ. We put on the bowels of mercy in Christ, we put on the glory of the cross, which seemed scandalous to the Jews and foolishness to the Greeks. Those who think it should be ashamed of it are the ones who are ashamed. But for us, it is not fitting to boast except in the cross of the Lord Jesus. These lowly things of ours have greater honor, because through the passion of the Lord, an eternal kingdom is prepared for us; for the more one has sinned, the more he is loved. Therefore, let us be buried with Lord Jesus, so that we may deserve to be participants of his resurrection: let us strip off the old man with his actions, let us put on the new, in which there is forgiveness of sins.

75. Therefore, the clothing and covering, the Word of God. With this clothing, the sons of Noah covered their father's genitals, taking a garment and going backwards, so they would not see their father's genitals, which symbolize the physical aspects that bring shame to humankind. And thus, the one who desired to see received a deserving punishment, becoming a servant; for everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. Therefore, he remained in worldly matters. Let no one take away clothing from this poor person; or if they have taken it, let the sun not set upon the stripped one: let them restore it before, so that the sin of the poor person may not be attributed to the lender; and let them not only work for their own sin, but also for the sin of another. Let this pledge be returned on this night of the world, let this clothing be put on in these dark times of the world.

This is a pledge of that blessed lot, not of the contrary one. For we read in Leviticus of two lots, of which it is said: One you shall make for God, the other for the receiver. The receiver sends his lot to the moneylenders: the servants of the Lord are in the lot of Christ. Aaron, placed in this lot, excluded the trouble of the contrary lot, when, being situated between the two parts of the people, he did not allow death to overtake the dead by being drawn into the lot of the living body of the self. The good pledge of this fate is Verbiamictus. No debtor should take this tunic from you: no one should pawn this tunic, if you wish to never suffer shame, so that you may sleep among the clergy like Aaron, sleep among the two Testaments, so that you may sleep the sleep of resurrection, and be able to restore yourselves. This is the garment that even if you pawned it, holy Solomon advises you to take back, saying: Take off your garment: for an injurious person passes by (Prov. XXVII, 13).


77. The garment of wisdom is made from those clothes that wisdom itself made for herself from fine linen and purple: this is, the garment of faith consists in the preaching of heavenly things and the blood of the Lord's passion: the fine linen denotes heavenly things, the purple signifies the mystery of the sacred blood by which the heavenly kingdom is conferred. Finally, the garment of wisdom indicates higher things; for he goes on to say: Be wise, my son, and let your heart be glad (Prov. XXVII, 11). And below in two verses it says: But those who come upon you unawares suffer loss (Ibid., 12). Take off your clothes. Therefore, take them off, so that you do not experience the loss of ignorance; and so that wicked common usurer, recognizing you undressed from your own clothes, may try to uncover the shame of you and persuade you to cover yourself with leaves and fear the true sight of God seeing you naked.

78. 'Give,' he says, 'to your neighbor in the earliest time, a concise word, and deal faithfully with him; and at all times you will find what is necessary for you.' (Ecclesiasticus 29:2-3) 'Innocence does not love to defend itself before many.' Susanna did not lack the power of speech: she restrained her words to the Lord and immediately deserved to obtain the testimony of her own chastity. Many priests spoke, who were laboring to obscure the truth with the deceit of words, but not the daughter of Judah. She remained silent among men, but spoke to God. The defense of the woman herself was shameful; and while modesty was being defended, impudence was being feigned. She constrained her words, saying to the Lord: You know that they have spoken falsely about me (Dan. 13:41). And the Lord stirred up the spirit of the young man Daniel, the avenger of chastity.

79. Therefore, let the word be concise, so that the repayment to the creditor may not be with words but with actions. Or mystically: Let the word be concise, that is, perfect. For the Lord, by speaking a perfect and concise word, will bring about on earth, that is, in your understanding, a summary abbreviated from many reasonings. Deduct that various expenses have been incurred so that you may have what is left over. Just as the Lord, through various dispensations to the Jews, finally perfected and abbreviated that great plan of sins, so that the remnant might be saved through the election of grace and preserved for the sake of the offspring, through whom the hope of the synagogue, which was dead, might be revived.

Caput XXI.

They are reproached who, when they are unable to pay, borrow money. The same people, when rejected, and not rendering on the agreed day, make enemies out of friends; hence it is concluded that no one should borrow money. What is meant by not binding with a millstone and a supermillstone?


How ugly it is to repay harm for a favor received! When you cheat someone to whom you owe, later in your time of need you will not find a creditor. How unworthy it is, that when you cannot support yourself, when you still owe nothing, you think that you can both sustain yourself and pay the debt! Consider first how you will repay, and then borrow. I collect the fruits of the fields, he says. But those who are not abundant in usefulness, how will they be abundant in the increase of a contracted loan? But I sell my possession. And from where will come the fruits which you will use for expenses? Interest is not paid with one's own money, but it is increased: it is accumulated and grows by counting.

81. Then do you not consider the humility and modesty of the one requesting? Until you receive, you will kiss the hands of the proud moneylender, humble your voice so as not to offend his ears with the clear sound of your voice, and prevent others from hearing you beg. Poverty is not a crime, there is no dishonor in need: but it is shameful to owe, not shameful to refuse to pay. You will ask for a delay when it comes time to repay the prescribed amount: you will bring forth excuses for the money, you will argue about the time, you will heap up justifications; and even though you have promised the whole, so as not to be seen as defrauding completely, you will barely repay half. You will make a friend an enemy, you will return an insult for honor, a curse for a blessing. Consider how these opinions may harm: recognize how they differ from that of a good man.

82. Therefore, while you are free from chains, free yourself from the yoke and burden of servitude. Are you wealthy? Do not take on debt. Are you poor? Do not borrow. Are you wealthy? Do not allow any need for borrowing. Are you poor? Consider the difficulty of repaying. Wealth is diminished by interest, poverty is not alleviated by interest. However, evil is not corrected by evil, nor is a wound healed by a wound, but it is worsened by an ulcer.

83. See to it that while you are seeking money, you do not burden your mill or place a millstone on it. The mill is the means by which flour is made, by which one woman grinds the flour that is taken away, and another that is left behind. Perhaps the one who is taken away is the one who always grinds the word of God, so that she may have flour and make it into a spiritual bread. She removes the old leaven, so that there may be a new sprinkling. She maintains her mill, interprets the Scriptures, and keeps her millstone. But the one who pawns her mill is the one who is left behind. When something has been done perfunctorily, it is like pawning a stone that is on top of a millstone. I wonder what stone that is. It is written: 'The stone which the builders rejected has become the cornerstone' (Psalm 118:22). Why on top of a millstone? Because He is the one who helps those who are grinding: He is the one who says: 'Search the Scriptures, in which you think you have eternal life' (John 5:39).

84. Do not, moneylender, pawn this millstone, lest you fall upon it. For everyone who falls upon this millstone will be crushed; but upon whom it falls, it will grind him to powder. Nor should you accept a widow's pledge. Take away both the burden and the means of living from the poor, or take away the widow's pledge; but it is more serious if you hold back the word from the widow who is a widow in name only, and indicate to her the barrenness of her widowhood.

Caput XXII.

Whom we should imitate, the moneylender; and how God has given more to the Church, to whom she herself has given more without demanding; and concerning the divine dispensation of mercy and judgment.

85. And so that you may know that I advise these things out of love, I will show you whom you should imitate as a lender. There were two debtors to one lender, one owed five hundred denarii, the other fifty. Since they did not have the means to repay, he forgave both of them. So, who loves him more? Simon the Pharisee answered, 'I suppose the one whom he forgave more.' (Luke, VII, 41 et seq.) And his opinion was praised, with the Lord saying: You have judged rightly. The Pharisee judged rightly, who had evil thoughts, thinking that the Lord knew more about the woman's sins than he granted. But his opinion is praised, so that every excuse is taken away from him.

86. Furthermore, the Church, which is gathered from the people of nations, is forgiven more, because it owed more: but it also gives more not to the demanding, but to the giver. It gave water to the feet of Christ, for it cleansed its own sins: it kissed his feet, bearing the insignia of peace: it sent oil to his feet, conferring mercy itself by giving to the poor. These are the feet of Christ, in which Christ walks with greater innocence. And she wiped them with the hair of her head. For whoever has the disposition of humility is humbled for Christ. And therefore, it is said, many of his sins are forgiven, because he has loved much (Ibid., 47).

87. Note that the Lord bestows both mercy and judgment. He gave in advance through grace, but he knew to whom he was giving. The Jew has no excuse. He gave me, a sinner, more; he gave him, an ingrate, less. However, he knew that even the ingrate could not repay what he had received, and the Church, mindful of grace, would repay more the more she had deserved.

Caput XXIII.

When discussing the antiquity of usury, it is argued that the blame is also ancient, which Christ came to abolish, but which the devil introduced. Moneylenders are likened to the devil and also those who bind a surety, in which they create another enemy for themselves. It is necessary to be cautious not to bind oneself for another, or at least for an amount greater than one's abilities!


88. Therefore, you have the moneylender whom you follow, if you want to be praised, if you want not to be criticized by us. For we do not criticize the person, but the greed. Nor is it unknown that some have said, when our discourse had aroused their feelings two days ago: What did the Bishop intend by addressing the moneylenders, as if something new had been allowed, as if the earlier generation had not also engaged in moneylending, as if moneylending were not an ancient practice? It is true, and I do not deny it: but there is also an ancient fault. In the end, sin comes from Adam: from him comes fault, from which comes Eve: from her comes wrongdoing, from which comes the human condition. But for this reason Christ came, to abolish what had grown old and to establish something new; and by his grace he renewed what fault had made old. Therefore, he offered himself to suffering, so that he could be renewed in spirit and absolve everyone (Confessions of Augustine, Book I against Julian, Pelag. ch. 3). However, the devil deceived Eve in order to overthrow the man and bind the inheritance.


89. What do lenders do? They deceive the borrowers, they obligate the guarantors: but Tobias did not seek collateral or demand a guarantor (Tob. I, 17, and IV, 22). Therefore, you must ensure that you request a guarantor to bind him with your names. Behold, another enemy is prepared. For when you do not have the means to repay the debt, he will be held accountable for you. You will find in him a deceitful fraudster, whom you have deceived as a friend. He will be exposed, he will be led into chains for you: you will suffer a heavier collector than the creditor who alleges: urge your fellow citizen whom you have promised. It will happen that you yourself also begin to be ungrateful, and you pass over that which is written: Do not forget the promise of grace; for he has given a good soul for you (Eccli. XXIX, 20). You must say: Who sought you to say faith? For unless you had spoken faith, I would not have received money. I received money from an adulteress, she gave me bronze mixed with gold: I wish you had not offered yourself! Perhaps the creditor bribed you, or you him.


90. Therefore, be cautious not to involve yourself in someone else's debt, lest you be accused of having sold yourself. And if someone, out of the necessity of friendship, has given you something as a debtor's token of gratitude, be careful not to appear ungrateful. Or if you wish to intervene, you will be moved when your friend beseeches and requests you; you will be ashamed to refuse. Intervene in such a way that, if the debt is not to be paid, you know it is to be paid from your own resources. Approach these matters prepared. For you have read: Do not guarantee more than you are capable of; for if you should promise, consider it as if you were restoring what you have received (Sirach 8:16). And below: Take the next according to your strength, and take care not to fall (Sirach 29:27), that is, do not obligate yourself to a greater extent than you can bear and fulfill with your available resources. For if you give away what you have, you have lost wealth, but you have not lost faith. You do not feel the losses to your reputation, for you have redeemed a friend without deceit. Elsewhere, the Proverbs of Solomon also advise you, saying: He who gives surety for a friend, as one who obligates himself for the debts of his friends (Proverbs 17:18). But if you do not have, listen to what Solomon says: Do not put yourself forward in a pledge, if you do not have the means to pay, they will take your bed from under you. (Prov. XXII, 26 and 27). Therefore, a good lender will gain favor, and an evil one will bring down a curse.

Caput XXIV.

How can we imitate Tobias in the payment of wages; and how does he teach us the same kind of lending?

91. However, not only content with these virtues, the holy Tobias knew that a wage should be paid to the hired worker, and he offered half of it (Tob. IV, 15); and deservedly for his wage, he found an Angel (Tob. XII, 5). And how do you know that you may not unjustly defraud someone justly, even worse if they are weak? Woe to those who scandalize one of these little ones! Who knows if there is an angel in them? For we should not doubt that an angel could be in a hired worker, since Christ, who is accustomed to be in the least of these, could be there as well.


Therefore, pay the worker their wages and do not defraud them of their labor's reward; for you too are a worker of Christ, and you have been hired for his vineyard, and for you a heavenly reward has been reserved. Therefore, do not harm the servant who works in truth, nor the hired worker who gives their soul; do not despise the poor who sustains their life through their labor, and by their wages. For this is to kill a person, to deny them the support owed to them for their life. And you are a mercenary in this land: give wages to the mercenary, so that you may also say to the Lord when you pray: Give wages, O Lord, to those who sustain you (Sirach 36:18).

Tobias says to you: Luxuria mater est famis (Tob. IV, 15), in which he teaches about self-control. He also says: Give the same day's wages to every man who has worked for you, and let not the wages of a man remain with you; and your wages shall not be lessened (Ibid., 15). He says to you: Do not drink wine to drunkenness (Ibid., 16). He says to you: Share your bread with the hungry (Ibid., 17). See what he desires you to lend: And from your clothes cover the naked; from all the things that have been abundantly given to you, make alms. Bless the Lord at all times (Ibid., 18 et seq.). Therefore, in these things, interest is eternal and usury perpetual.