Wealth and Poverty

Philemon, fragment 92 Kock = Comparison of Menander and Philistion II 59-67 Jaeckel, p. 105; attributed to Philetus by Stobaeus, Anthology 4.33.19, vol. 5, part 2, pp. 804-805 Hense (tr. F.A. Paley): Wealth ever brings its ills, and those not few. Some envy, some abuse and hate it too. Trouble, annoyance, meet one without end, Extortions here, there gifts to help a friend, Who, as you soon find out, has left a will To make some other rich man richer still. Thus modest means, with life devoid of care, Are better far than with the rich to share Wealth's high estate, with all its plagues and pains Your poor man's evils may to him be gains. ἀεὶ τὸ πλουτεῖν συμφορὰς πολλὰς ἔχει, φθόνον τ' ἐπήρειάν τε καὶ μίσος πολύ, πράγματά τε πολλὰ κἀνοχλήσεις μυρίας, πράξεις τε πολλὰς συλλογάς τε τοῦ βίου. ἔπειτα μετὰ ταῦτ' εὐθὺς εὑρέθη θανών, 5 ἄλλοις καταλιπῲν εἰς τρυφὴν τὴν οὐσίαν. ὅθεν πένεσθαι μᾶλλον ἡδέως ἔχω, ἔχειν τε μέτρια καμέριμνον ζῆν βίον, καὶ μήτ' ἔχειν πλοῦτόν με μήτε πράγματα· πᾶς γὰρ…