It is indeed wise to read "The Perils of Lending" today, work of Plutarch's mature period. This is a speech written earlier on 92 A.D. and was probably pronounced in Athens and other Greek cities in order to warn about the consequences of overindebtedness to foreigners mainly, Italians in the majority of lenders, at that time.
It is worth highlighting some quotes that are more relevant than ever in our day, to realize that mindless borrowing is a curse and brings peoples to despair and to the brink of destruction. Something our ancient ancestors knew years ago.
"Plato in the Laws forbids taking water from one's neighbor's land unless one has first failed to find water on one's own land, having dug until he encountered the so-called ceramitis, i.e. layer of clay, however, it mandates that those who cannot have their own share their neighbors' water, as the law requires, in distress, to provide assistance. So there shouldn't be a law for money either, which forbids men to borrow from others and resort to foreign sources, if they do not first examine their own fortune and their own capabilities, and do not single out and gather, drop, drop, that is useful and necessary for them;»
"For the lenders we can say: There is interest before interest, and there is another interest….Mostly, however, they lie, and even fraudulently, lenders in their accounts, when they write that they give so and so the debt amount, while they give him less, and the cause of their lies is greed, not the need nor the hardship, but greed, which at the end, while destroying their victims, to them it brings neither pleasure nor benefit".
“So are you, in poverty, which brings many evils with it, don't add the hassles of borrowing and debt, but also do not deprive her of the only thing in which she excels in wealth, carelessness. Because then the ridiculous situation of the proverb arises:
I can't carry the goat, load the ox on my shoulders".
"The perils of borrowing" (About the don't see borrowing), Plutarch. Nefeli Publications. October 2011.
Source : protagon.gr