Seneca, On the Happy Life 51: Honorably Come By, and Honorably Spent

Cease, then, forbidding philosophers to possess money; no one has condemned wisdom to poverty.

The philosopher may own ample wealth, but will not own wealth that which has been torn from another, or which is stained with another's blood. His must be obtained without wronging any man, and without its being won by base means; it must be alike honorably come by and honorably spent, and must be such as spite alone could shake its head at.

Raise it to whatever figure you please, it will still be an honorable possession, if, while it includes much which every man would like to call his own, there be nothing which any one can say is his own.

Such a man will not forfeit his right to the favor of Fortune, and will neither boast of his inheritance nor blush for it if it was honorably acquired. Yet he will have something to boast of, if he throw his house open, let all his countrymen come among his property, and say, "If any one recognizes here anything belonging to him, let him take it."

What a great man, how excellently rich will he be, if after this speech he possesses as much as he had before! I say, then, that if he can safely and confidently submit his accounts to the scrutiny of the people, and no one can find in them any item upon which he can lay hands, such a man may boldly and unconcealedly enjoy his riches. . . .

—Seneca the Younger, On the happy life, Chapter 23 (tr Stewart)

Never blame wealth for the abuses of bad men. Blame bad men for the abuses of wealth.

Fortune may offer us all sorts of benefits, but what will make all the difference is how we came to acquire them, and how we proceed to use them. Just as you will be able to discern a man’s character when he is in a state of loss, you will also be able to discern his character when he is in a state of plenty.

I suspect that some of us resent wealth because we do not have it, but the solution to this is recognizing that it isn’t the wealth that will ever make us happy. Others of us are disgusted by wealth because we see the vices of so many people who are given much, but the solution to this is recognizing that we should rather be disgusted by the vices.

Have we won fortune with justice, and are we spending it with justice? This means more than simply having worked hard, or worked cleverly, for a reward, and it means more than just having the appearance of respectability. Justice always demands that we never take more than we deserve, and we never give less than another deserves. Justice may even be tempered with mercy and charity, and we can then take less than we deserve, and give more than another deserves.

Too many of us take for granted what we inherit, we confuse earning with stealing, and we are wasteful with what we possess. We are outraged when someone takes what we think is ours, but we call it good business when we take what belongs to others. Now getting angry about this will change nothing, but starting to show love to my neighbor is the beginning of a cure.

I adore Seneca’s challenge to throw open our coffers to any rightful claimants, though I wonder who would do so with integrity. We fear our rivals and competitors because we know full well that we have wronged them. Though our gains are often ill-gotten, nothing need stop us from giving back what we have taken. It starts with changing our own thinking about what is true and good, and proceeds through action inspired by giving and receiving honorably. 

Written in 5/2004