It is well. As says the proverb, the master is for his bread (that is, his own interests), and the workman is not less cunning than his master; for, if intelligent people put the candle under a bushel, there is no reason why we should watch it. Act, then, as you can, O laborer!
107. Nevertheless, the poor man is very humble before thee, O rich man! And if thou treatest him with hypocrisy, he will fall alive into thy hands.
Thus the poor man goes in his poverty to the rich man's house, and returns half naked. Sirach says with reason: "Hunting lions is like hunting savages in the desert; so the poor are the prey of the rich."[1]
This is what often happens in a poor country where a single rich man is settled. The poor must sell to him, and must also buy of him.
And the rich man still says: I make fair and honest bargains. I buy and sell loyally. Every bargain has an amiable intent. Would you sell to me, or would you buy? There is no sin in commerce. I do not sell by false weights or measures; I do not deceive in my accounts. In a word, it is just to say that, according to the commandment, I eat my bread in the sweat of my face.
And now, to discuss this with him!
All that he has said is injurious to us. He does not understand the meaning of the com-
- ↑ "As the wild ass is the lion's prey in the wilderness: so the rich eat up the poor." (Ecclesiasticus, xiii. 23.)
