cording to his needs. He is a wise trader. I have confidence in his good judgment and can loan him freely. Many other merchants of Babylon have my confidence because of their honorable behavior. Their tokens come and go frequently in my token box. Good merchants are an asset to our city and it profits me to aid them to keep trade moving that Babylon be prosperous.”
Mathon picked out a beetle carved in turquois and tossed it contemptously on the floor. “A bug from Egypt. The lad who owns this does not care whether I ever receive back my gold. When I reproach him he replies, ‘How can I repay when ill fate pursues me? You have plenty more.’ What can I do, the token is his father’s, a worthy man of small means who did pledge his land and herd to back his son’s enterprises. The youth found success at first and then was over zealous to gain great wealth. His knowledge was immature. His enterprises collapsed.
Youth is ambitious. Youth would take short cuts to wealth and the desirable things for which it stands. To secure wealth quickly youth often borrows unwisely. Youth never having had experience cannot realize that hopeless debt is like a deep pit into which one may descend quickly and where one may struggle vainly for many days. It is a pit of sorrow and regrets where the brightness of the sun is overcast and night is made unhappy by restless sleeping. Yet I do not discourage borrowing gold. I encourage it. I recommend it if it be for a wise purpose. I myself made my first real success as a merchant with borrowed gold.
Yet what should the lender do in such a case? The youth is in despair and accomplishes nothing. He is discouraged. He makes no effort to repay. My heart turns against depriving the father of his land and cattle.
“You tell me much that I am interested to hear,” ventured Rodan, “but I hear no answer to my question. Should I loan my fifty pieces of gold to my sister’s husband? They mean much to me.”
—28—
