Plato on Wealth and Poverty

Excerpt from Plato's Republic [Ed: TIP!] on the concepts of 'wealth' and 'poverty'.  Writing in dialog format.

I wonder whether you will agree with another remark which occurs to me.

What may that be?

There seem to be two causes of the deterioration of the arts.

What are they?

Wealth, I said, and poverty.

How do they act?

The process is as follows: When a potter becomes rich, will he, think you, any longer take the same pains with his art?

Certainly not.

He will grow more and more indolent and careless?

Very true.

And the result will be that he becomes a worse potter?

Yes; he greatly deteriorates.

But, on the other hand, if he has no money, and cannot provide himself tools or instruments, he will not work equally well himself, nor will he teach his sons or apprentices to work equally well.

Certainly not.

Then, under the influence either of poverty or of wealth, workmen and their work are equally liable to degenerate?

That is evident. 

Here, then, is a discovery of new evils, I said, against which the guardians will have to watch, or they will creep into the city unobserved.

What evils?

Wealth, I said, and poverty; the one is the parent of luxury and indolence, and the other of meanness and viciousness, and both of discontent.

Not ... too ... bad .... I'd say!   Too bad our disgraced morons in positions of authority today are not capable of perceiving and understanding this truth; that to us seems like an obvious and simple truthful observation made by Plato over 2,000 years ago now.

Here is the apostle Paul in his letter to the ecclesia of Christ Jesus in Rome a few centuries later providing perspective on these types of human perceptions and the associated actions on the part of those of the nations like the Greek writer Plato here:

"13 For not the listeners to law are just with God, but the doers of law shall be justified. 14 For whenever they of the nations that have no law, by nature may be doing that which the law demands, these, having no law, are a law to themselves, 15 who are displaying the action of the law written in their hearts, their conscience testifying together and their reckonings between one another, accusing or defending them, 16 in the day when God will be judging the hidden things of humanity, according to my evangel, through Jesus Christ."  Romans 2:13-16

Just being able to listen is not enough, you have to be given to understand too. Our disgraced blind morons who unfortunately occupy positions of authority at this time in the west cannot understand.