The Perils of Inheritance and the Example of Lazarus

He acts like a wise man, stripping away the shadows of night, so that he may be lulled by the night breezes. Poverty stands by this man while he is toiling, seeking from the endangered grain and not giving; or if he does give, he gives grudgingly, and is himself barely covered by a half-measure of grain. Therefore, I urge you, such a person, not to engage in endless toil and hardship.

For both the luxurious covetous man, who limits his life to the stomach and other pleasures, thinking this to be the end of humanity, is worthy of pity. But the small-minded and short-spoken man has no measure of his wretchedness, taking the portion of many and not giving to himself, bringing his haste to nothing.

For who does not know that nothing of the things happening, except virtues, happens by itself, but we do something else in order that we may achieve something else? No one sails more by the act of sailing itself, nor does a farmer live by his labors for the sake of farming alone; but it is evident that both proceed with painful endurance, one to reap the fruitfulness of the earth, the other to carry off the wealth of maritime commerce. And you, say what your end is. Is it to gather things together? And what kind of end is this, to see having heaped up useless matter?

He says, 'The sight even delights me.' Has your own sickness not changed? For it is possible to soothe desire even with the money of others. If the glitter of silver delights you, sitting before the silversmiths, looking at the dense and shining light, or taking pleasure in various vessels, both those that carry food and those that pour; for the sight is easy and unhindered for you.

See also the silver-experts at the tables, constantly feeling and counting the coins; rather, having been persuaded, I will advise you: change your mind through something good. For correction is easy, since greed is not a necessity of nature, but an impulse of choice, which is not difficult to change for those choosing what is profitable.

Peer with your thought into the time hereafter, when you will not be, when a little earth will lie over you, your body folded up and senseless; and a few flakes of ash will cover the remains. Where then will the wealth and the gathered treasures be? Who will be the heir of those left behind? For not all...

That person will be the successor you expect. If you leave children, they might happen to stumble, and a greedy person like you might drive them away from the father's house while they are mourning. Even if you are poor and send the inheritance to some friends, do not treat the will as an unshakeable law, as an irrefutable and strong thing. A little haste makes the writing void. Do you not see those constantly struggling in the courts against wills, where lawyers lead various schemes, bringing in legal experts to strike against them, bringing in terrible rhetoricians as helpers, nurturing false witnesses, and corrupting the courts?

For this reason, regarding those things you see happening, instruct those who come after you. If you have wealth justly, use it properly, like the blessed Job; if unjustly, distribute it to those who were plundered, like a prisoner of war; or take what you received along with an addition, like Zacchaeus. If you do not have it, do not acquire it wickedly. For sin will follow you as a bitter provision on a necessary journey, and the enjoyment of what was acquired will be left to those you do not know. Then you will marvel at David saying, 'He stores up, but does not know to whom he will gather it' (Ps 69:8). And you will know the rich man, the opposite of Lazarus, who has been fully read to us from the Gospels, not composed as a myth for astonishment, but handed down as an exact type of what is to come.

The deep has been spread out, the kingdom has passed to another, the luxuries have been abolished; sin from those things has emigrated along with them like a shadow remaining to a walking body. And because of this, after the luxury of banquets and the elegant table, a thin drop of water is sought, departing from a finger thin from disease; and he calls the poor man the healer of punishment, who perhaps does not even have hands when he rushes to the gate; for he would have driven away the dogs that were licking the wounds. And he desires to mingle with Lazarus, who is seen from afar, but is divided by the trench or the chasm; not a pit truly dug or a trench made, as one sees the battle line of war on the plains, but the obstacle, I think, of the...