M. PORCI CATONIS CENSORIS DE AGRI CVLTVRA
Marcus Porcius Cato [Cato the Elder/Cato the Elder]
234-149 BC
Trans RMBullard
Latin (Republican Era)
[PRAEFATIO] Est interdum praestare mercaturis rem quaerere, nisi tam periculosum sit, et item foenerari, si tam honestum.
[INTRODUCTION-Sometimes it is best to question how a merchant transacts his business, so that it not become a risky venture, and at the same time, so that his ability to lend money remain honest.]
Maiores nostri sic habuerunt et ita in legibus posiverunt:
[Our founding fathers thought the same, and they expressed so in our laws:]
furem dupli condemnari, foeneratorem quadrupli.
[They decided that a thief should be punished twice as harshly, but the loan shark at four times the severity.]
Quanto peiorem civem existimarint foeneratorem quam furem, hinc licet existimare.
[We would certainly be correct to assume that they esteemed a loan shark to be an even worse member of society than a thief.]
I N F I N I T A
