Laudator Temporis Acti

Greek Anthology 11.47.1-3 (Anacreon, tr. W.R. Paton):

I care not for the wealth of Gyges the King of Sardis, nor does gold take me captive...

οὔ μοι μέλει τὰ Γύγεω,
τοῦ Σαρδίων ἄνακτος,
οὔθ᾽ αἱρέει με χρυσός...

Greek Anthology 11.58.1-2 (Macedonius the Consul, tr. W.R. Paton):

I wish not for gold, nor for the myriad cities of the world, nor for all that Homer said Thebes contained...

ἤθελον οὐ χρυσόν τε καὶ ἄστεα μυρία γαίης,
  οὐδ᾽ ὅσα τὰς Θήβας εἶπεν Ὅμηρος ἔχειν...

Jim Garland (1905-1978), lyrics to be sung to the tune "East Virginia":

I don't want your millions, Mister,
I don't want your diamond ring.
All I want is the right to live, Mister,
Give me back my job again.

Now, I don't want your Rolls-Royce, Mister,
I don't want your pleasure yacht.
All I want's just food for my babies,
Give to me my old job back.

We worked to build this country, Mister,
While you enjoyed a life of ease.
You've stolen all that we built, Mister,
Now our children starve and freeze.

So, I don't want your millions, Mister,
I don't want your diamond ring.
All I want is the right to live, Mister,
Give me back my job again.

Think me dumb if you wish, Mister,
Call me green, or blue, or red.
This one thing I sure know, Mister,
My hungry babies must be fed.

Take the two old parties, Mister,
No difference in them I can see.
But with a Farmer-Labor Party
We could set the people free.

So, I don't want your millions, Mister,
I don't want your diamond ring.
All I want is the right to live, Mister,
Give me back my job again.

Are we sincere when we recite these lines of Greek poetry, or when we sing this song?

According to Edith Fowke and Joe Glazer, Songs of Work and Protest (New York: Dover Publications, 1973), p. 161, Woody Guthrie (1912-1967), who recorded "I Don't Want Your Millions, Mister" with the Almanac Singers in 1941, confessed, "If we'd only admit it, we do want the man's millions and diamond ring and his yacht and everything else."