Edition Masquer
De civitate Dei (CCSL)

Caput XII: Quod Iuppiter etiam Pecunia nuncupetur.

Quam uero eleganter rationem huius nominis reddiderunt. et Pecunia, inquiunt, uocatur, quod eius sunt omnia. o magnam rationem diuini nominis. immo uero ille, cuius sunt omnia, uilissime et contumeliosissime Pecunia nuncupatur. ad omnia enim, quae caelo et terra continentur, quid est pecunia in omnibus omnino rebus, quae ab hominibus nomine pecuniae possidentur? sed nimirum hoc auaritia Ioui nomen inposuit, ut, quisquis amat pecuniam, non quemlibet deum, sed ipsum regem omnium sibi amare uideatur. longe autem aliud esset, si diuitiae uocaretur. aliud namque sunt diuitiae, aliud pecunia. nam dicimus diuites sapientes, iustos, bonos, quibus pecunia uel nulla uel parua est; magis enim sunt uirtutibus diuites, per quas eis etiam in ipsis corporalium rerum necessitatibus sat est quod adest: pauperes uero auaros, semper inhiantes et egentes; quamlibet enim magnas pecunias habere possunt, sed in earum quantacumque abundantia non egere non possunt. et deum ipsum uerum recte dicimus diuitem, non tamen pecunia, sed omnipotentia. dicuntur itaque et diuites pecuniosi; sed interius egeni, si cupidi: item dicuntur pauperes pecunia carentes; sed interius diuites, si sapientes. qualis ergo ista theologia debet esse sapienti, ubi rex deorum eius rei nomen accepit, quam nemo sapiens concupiuit? quanto enim facilius, si aliquid hac doctrina quod ad uitam pertineret aeternam salubriter disceretur, deus mundi rector non ab eis Pecunia, sed Sapientia uocaretur, cuius amor purgat a sordibus auaritiae, hoc est ab amore pecuniae.

Traduction Masquer
The City of God

Chapter 12.--That Jupiter is Also Called Pecunia.

How elegantly they have accounted for this name! "He is also called Pecunia," say they, "because all things belong to him." Oh how grand an explanation of the name of a deity! Yes; he to whom all things belong is most meanly and most contumeliously called Pecunia. In comparison of all things which are contained by heaven and earth, what are all things together which are possessed by men under the name of money? ¹ And this name, forsooth, hath avarice given to Jupiter, that whoever was a lover of money might seem to himself to love not an ordinary god, but the very king of all things himself. But it would be a far different thing if he had been called Riches. For riches are one thing, money another. For we call rich the wise, the just, the good, who have either no money or very little. For they are more truly rich in possessing virtue, since by it, even as re spects things necessary for the body, they are content with what they have. But we call the greedy poor, who are always craving and always wanting. For they may possess ever so great an amount of money; but whatever be the abundance of that, they are not able but to want. And we properly call God Himself rich; not, however, in money, but in omnipotence. Therefore they who have abundance of money are called rich, but inwardly needy if they are greedy. So also, those who have no money are called poor, but inwardly rich if they are wise.

What, then, ought the wise man to think of this theology, in which the king of the gods receives the name of that thing "which no wise man has desired?" ² For had there been anything wholesomely taught by this philosophy concerning eternal life, how much more appropriately would that god who is the ruler of the world have been called by them, not money, but wisdom, the love of which purges from the filth of avarice, that is, of the love of money!