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.