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.
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.