Love And Wealth

Ideo dilexi mandata tua super aurum et topazion... Sed dilectio ea demum perfecta est, quae maxima est, et quae nulli comparatione similium coaequatur. Diligit autem mandata Dei super aurum et topazion. Humanus error pretiosius nihil auro et gemmis opinatur: et haec sunt quae hominum cupiditates dominatui pretii sui et honoris subdiderunt. Auro viris honestas pudicitiae venalis est: per gemmas vero humani corporis praestantior, ut putant, species ad naturae contumeliam expolitur. Et idcirco nihil habet sexus uterque pretiosius, dum viri posse omnia auro volunt, mulieres vero per gemmas fieri se existimant pulchriores. Praestat autem ut caeteris metallis aurum, ita et aliis lapidibus topazion. Est enim ipse rarissimus et speciosissimus omnium et maximus. In Thebaidis vero loco, cui Alabastra nomen est, reperiri solet. Hunc etiam ferunt saecularium gestorum litterae, in Topazo insula ab incolis ejus, id est Troglodytis Arabis inventum, ad matrem regis Aegypti Ptolemaei, sub quo Scripturae legis ex hebraeo in graecum translatae sunt, munere fuisse delatum. Continet autem ipse in se solus caeterarum gemmarum optimarum pretiosissimarumque speciem, et in uno illo diversissimorum colorum permixtio continetur. Super hunc igitur topazion, et super aurum mandata Dei Propheta dilexit, non terrenis se, sed coelestibus desideriis significans detineri. Sanctus Hilarius Pictaviensis,Tractatus super Psalmos, Tractatus in Psalmum CXVIII Source: Migne PL 9.612c-613a

Therefore I have loved your commandments over gold and topaz... 1 This love which is greatest, and to which there is no comparison of likeness, is at last perfected when he loves the commandments of God above gold and topaz. Human error thinks that there is nothing more precious than gold and gems, and by the desire of men for the gain of these things they are dominated and by the glory of them they are conquered. By gold the uprightness of the modest man is corrupted, and it is ruined by jewels, the appearance of which they think makes the human body fairer to the scorn of nature. Therefore neither sex has anything so precious, for while men think they can do everything they wish with gold, yet women think that they are made more beautiful by jewels. As gold excels the other metals, so topaz does all other stones. It is most rare and the fairest of all of them and the greatest. It is usually found in the Thebaid, where it is named alabastra, and the books of worldly affairs tell us that it was discovered on the isle of Topaz by the inhabitants there, that is, certain cave dwelling Arabs, and sent as a gift to the mother of Ptolemy king of Egypt, the one in whose reign the Scripture of the Law was translated from Hebrew to Greek. 2 Alone among all other gems it has the most appealing and most precious appearance, having mixed in it the most diverse colours. Therefore it is above this topaz, and above gold, that the prophet loves the commandments of God, signifying that he does not dote on worldly things, but desires heavenly things. Saint Hilary of Poitiers, Homilies on the Psalms, from Psalm 118 1 Ps 118.127 2 Ptolemy II Philadelphus