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A thirst for gold,
The beggar's vice, which can but overwhelm
The meanest hearts.
A thirst for gold,
The beggar's vice, which can but overwhelm
The meanest hearts.
Truly now is the golden age; the highest honour comes by means of
gold; by gold love is procured.
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Truly now is the golden age; the highest honour comes by means of
gold; by gold love is procured.
[Lat., Aurea nunc vere sunt saecula; plurimus auto
Venit honos; auro concilatur amor.]
A mask of gold hides all deformities.
A mask of gold hides all deformities.
If you are truthful you will have as much gold as you want.
If you are truthful you will have as much gold as you want.
Stronger than thunder's winged force
All-powerful gold can speed its course;
Through watchful guards its passage make,
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Stronger than thunder's winged force
All-powerful gold can speed its course;
Through watchful guards its passage make,
And loves through solid walls to break.
[Lat., Aurum per medios ire satellites
Et perrumpere amat saxa potentius
Ictu fulmineo.]
Commerce has set the mark of selfishness,
The signet of its all-enslaving power
Upon a shining ore, read more
Commerce has set the mark of selfishness,
The signet of its all-enslaving power
Upon a shining ore, and called it gold;
Before whose image bow the vulgar great,
The vainly rich, the miserable proud,
The mob of peasants, nobles, priests, and kings,
And with blind feelings reverence the power
That grinds them to the dust of misery.
But in the temple of their hireling hearts
Gold is a living god, and rules in scorn
All earthly things but virtue.
Truth, like gold, is to be obtained not by its growth, but by washing away from it all that is read more
Truth, like gold, is to be obtained not by its growth, but by washing away from it all that is not gold.
How quickly nature falls into revolt
When gold becomes her object!
For this the foolish overcareful fathers
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How quickly nature falls into revolt
When gold becomes her object!
For this the foolish overcareful fathers
Have broke their sleep with thoughts, their brains with care.
Their bones with industry.
For this they have engrossed and piled up
The cankered heaps of strange-achieved gold;
For this they have been thoughtful to invest
Their sons with arts and martial exercises.
