That we Ought not to Borrow (6)

And do not think that I say this because I have declared war against the money-lenders;

Ne’er have they harried my cattle, nor ever made off with my horses[*];

but that I am pointing out to those who are too ready to become borrowers how much disgrace and servility there is in the practice and that borrowing is an act of extreme folly and weakness. Have you money? Do not borrow, for you are not in need. Have you no money? Do not borrow, for you will not be able to pay. Let us look at each of these two alternatives separately. Cato once said to an old man who was behaving wickedly: Sir, when old age has so many evils of its own, why do you add to them the disgrace of wickedness? Therefore in your own case do not heap up upon poverty, which has many attendant evils, the perplexities which arise from borrowing and owing, and do not deprive poverty of the only advantage which it possesses over wealth, namely freedom from care; since by so doing you will incur the derision of the proverb,

I am unable to carry the goat, put the ox then upon me.[*]

Being unable to carry the burden of poverty you put the money-lender upon your back, a burden difficult for even the rich to bear. How, then, am I to live? Do you ask this, when you have hands and feet and a voice, when you are a man capable of loving and being loved, of doing favours and being grateful for them? Live by teaching letters, by leading children to school, by being a door-keeper, by working as a sailor or a boatman; none of these is so disgraceful or disagreeable as hearing the order Pay up.