“Money finds men friends
and honor too, and, at the last,
the seat of power nearest heaven.
No one, truly, is an enemy to money;
Anyone who is denies his hatred.
Wealth is skilled at creeping into places
High and low, places where a poor man,
Even if he enters, cannot get what he wants.
A body that is malformed, wealth makes attractive;
A senseless man, wealth makes wise.”
τὰ χρήματ’ ἀνθρώποισιν εὑρίσκει φίλους,
αὖθις δὲ τιμάς, εἶτα τῆς ὑπερτάτης
τυραννίδος θακοῦσιν ἀγχίστην ἕδραν.
ἔπειτα δ’ οὐδεὶς ἐχθρὸς οὔτε φύεται
πρὸς χρήμαθ’ οἵ τε φύντες ἀρνοῦνται στυγεῖν.
δεινὸς γὰρ ἕρπειν πλοῦτος ἔς τε τἄβατα
καὶ †πρὸς τὰ βατά†, χὠπόθεν πένης ἀνὴρ
οὐδ’ ἐντυχὼν δύναιτ’ ἂν ὧν ἐρᾷ τυχεῖν.
καὶ γὰρ δυσειδὲς σῶμα καὶ δυσώνυμον
γλώσσῃ σοφὸν τίθησιν εὔμορφόν τ’ ἰδεῖν.
This is from a play about the sons Of Aleus, a king from Arcadia. This is probably no less true today…
