Chapter III.
Not so much because of the usefulness, do the rich desire the possessions of others, but rather to exclude other people. How empty that desire is, which convinces them that they are inferior even to animals: how disgraceful it is to sell paternal property for the sake of luxury: finally, how impatiently the rich bear rejection!
11. And he said to me, 'And I will have a vegetable garden.' This, therefore, was all madness, this was all madness, that the space should be sought for cheap vegetables. Therefore, you do not desire to possess it as something useful, but you want to exclude others. Your concern for the spoils of the poor is greater than for your own profits. You consider it an injury to you if a poor person has anything that can be valued as worthy of a wealthy possession. You consider it a loss to you, whatever is someone else's. What delights you in the expenses of nature? The world was created for all, yet few rich individuals attempt to defend it for themselves. For it is not only earthly possessions that are claimed, but even the heavens, the air, the sea, are claimed for the use of a few wealthy individuals. This air, which you enclose with your widespread possessions, how many peoples can it nourish? Do the Angels have divided spaces of the sky, so that you can delineate the earth with fixed boundaries?
The Prophet cries out: Woe to those who join house to house, and field to field! (Isaiah 5:8) And he accuses them of ineffective greed. They flee from living with other people, and therefore exclude their neighbors: but they cannot flee, because when they exclude these ones, they find others again; and when they push away those, it is necessary for them to come into the neighborhood of others. For they cannot live alone on the earth. Birds associate with birds, finally the sky is covered mostly by the flight of a large flock: cattle are joined with cattle, fish with fish: they do not consider it a loss, but a trade of living, when they undertake the company of many, and seek a certain protection for the solace of more frequent society. Alone you, man, exclude a companion: you include wild beasts; you build habitats for animals, you destroy humans. You bring the sea into your estates, so that wild animals do not lack: you extend the boundaries of the land, so that you cannot have a neighbor.
We heard the voice of a wealthy man seeking what belongs to others, let us listen to the voice of a poor man claiming what is rightfully his: 'This shall not be, he says, from God, that I give you the inheritance of my fathers. He thinks that his wealth is like a contagious disease, as if to say: Your money shall bring you to ruin (Acts 8:20); but I cannot sell the inheritance of my fathers. You have something to follow, O wealthy man, if you are wise; do not sell your field for the pleasure of a night with a prostitute: do not waste your rights on excessive feasting and luxuries; do not gamble away your house, lest you lose the rights of ancestral piety.'
14. Having heard these things, the spirit of the greedy king was disturbed: And he slept in his bed, and he covered his face, and he did not eat his bread. The rich mourn, if they are unable to plunder others: if the poor does not yield to their wealth, they cannot hide the force of their sorrow. They long for lordship, they cover their faces; so that they may not see anything foreign in the world, so that they may not know that there is anything in this world that is not theirs, so that they may not hear their neighbor possessing something, so that they may not hear the poor contradicting them. These are the souls, of whom the prophet says: Rich women, arise (Isaiah 32:9).