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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comAdam Clarke Commentary - Proverbs 20:14 - 20:14
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It is naught, it is naught, saith the buyer - How apt are men to decry the goods they wish to purchase, in order that they may get them at a cheaper rate; and, when they have made their bargain and carried it off, boast to others at how much less than its value they have obtained it! Are such honest men? Is such knavery actionable? Can such be punished only in another world? St. Augustine tells us a pleasant story on this subject: A certain mountebank published, in the full theater, that at the next entertainment he would show to every man present what was in his heart. The time came, and the concourse was immense; all waited, with deathlike silence, to hear what he would say to eaeh. He stood up, and in a single sentence redeemed his pledge: -
Vili vultis Emere, et Caro Vendere.
You all wish to Buy Cheap, and Sell Dear.β
He was applauded; for every one felt it to be a description of his own heart, and was satisfied that all others were similar. βIn quo dicto levissimi scenici omnes tamen conscientias invenerunt suas.β - De Trinitate, lib. xiii., c. 3; Oper. vol. vii., col. 930.