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Ecc_5:10 He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loveth abundance with increase: this [is] also vanity.
Ver. 10. He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver.] As he cannot fill his belly, nor clothe his back with it, so neither can he satisfy his inordinate appetite and desire after it, though he had heaped and hoarded it up, as the great Caliph of Babylon had - that covetous wretch, starved to death by Haalon, brother to Mango, the great Cham of Cataia, in the midst of his gold, silver, and precious stones, whereof, till then, he could never have enough. {a} Auri nempe fames parto fit maior ab auro, {b} A man may as soon fill a chest with grace as a heart with wealth. As a circle cannot fill a triangle, so neither can the whole world, if it could be compassed, possibly fill the heart of man. Anima rationalis caeteris omnibus occupari potest, impleri non potest: {c} The reasonable soul may be busied about other things, but it cannot be filled with them. Non plus satiatur cor auro, quam corpus aura, As air fills not the body, so neither doth money the mind. It cannot, therefore, be man’s chiefest good, as mammonists make it, since it doth not terminate his appetite, but that although he hath never so much of it, yet is he as hungry after more as if he were not worth a halfpenny. Theoeritus brings in the covetous person first wishing -
“ Mille meis errent in montibus agni; ”
that he had a thousand sheep in his flock. And this when he had gotten, then, Pauperis est namerare pecus. He would have cattle without number. The Greeks derive their word for desire {d} from a root that signifieth to burn, Now, if one should heap never so much fuel upon a fire, it would not quench it, but kindle it the more. So here. Surely, as a ship may be overladen with silver, even unto sinking, and yet have compass and sides enough to hold ten times more, so a covetous wretch, though he hath enough to sink him, yet never hath he enough to satisfy him. Cataline was ever alieni appetens, sui profusus, {e} not more prodigal of his own than desirous after other men’s estates.
{a} Turk. Hist.
{b} Prudentius.
{c} Bernard.
{d} åðéèõìéá; èõìåéí , ardere. Hinc ardens appetitus.
{e} Salust.