Friday, April 24, 2020
The Truly Rich Man
Musonius Rufus, fragment 34 (tr. Cora E. Lutz):
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The treasures of Croesus and Cinyras we shall condemn as the last degree of poverty. One man and one alone shall we consider rich, the man who has acquired the ability to want for nothing always and everywhere.Cicero, Paradoxes of the Stoics 6.49 (tr. H. Rackham):
Τῶν μὲν Κροίσου καὶ Κινύρου θησαυρῶν πενίαν ἐσχάτην καταψηφιούμεθα, ἕνα δὲ καὶ μόνον πιστεύσομεν εἶναι πλούσιον τὸν δυνάμενον κτήσασθαι τὸ ἀνενδεὲς πανταχοῦ.
Which of us then is richer, the one who has a deficit or the one who has a surplus? the one who is in need or the one who has plenty? the one who requires more to keep him going the larger his property is, or the one who maintains himself by his own resources?
uter igitur est divitior, cui deest an cui superat? qui eget an qui abundat? cuius possessio quo est maior, eo plus requirit ad se tuendam, an quae suis se viribus sustinet?
