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Home  »  library  »  prose  »  The Lawe of the Lacedæmonians against Covetousness

C.D. Warner, et al., comp.
The Library of the World’s Best Literature. An Anthology in Thirty Volumes. 1917.

The Lawe of the Lacedæmonians against Covetousness

By Claudius Ælianus (c. 175–c. 235)

From ‘A Registre of Hystories’

A CERTAIN young man of Lacedæmonia having bought a plot of land for a small and easy price (and, as they say, dogge cheape) was arrested to appear before the magistrates, and after the trial of his matter he was charged with a penalty. The reason why hee was judged worthy this punishment was because he being but a young man gaped so gredely after gain and yawned after filthy covetousness. For yt was a most commendable thing among the Lacedæmonians not only to fighte against the enemie in battell manfully; but also to wrestle and struggle with covetousness (that misschievous monster) valliauntly.