Of riches the man of valor cannot bear even the sight, and well rightly so, for the coffer full of treasures prevents true glory.
Hercules, welcomed into heaven for his virtue, greeted one by one all the gods who were celebrating him, but when Pluto, who is the son of Fortune, arrived, he turned his eyes away. His father asked him why. "I detest him," he said, "because he is the friend of scoundrels and at the same time corrupts everything with the lure of gain."
[ Opes invisae merito sunt forti viro,
Quia dives arca veram laudem intercipit.
Caelo receptus propter virtutem Hercules
Cum gratulantes persalutasset deos,
Veniente Pluto, qui Fortunae est filius,
Avertit oculos. Causam quaesivit pater.
«Odi» inquit «illum, quia malis amicus est
Simulque obiecto cuncta corrumpit lucro» ]
Hercules, welcomed into heaven for his virtue, greeted one by one all the gods who were celebrating him, but when Pluto, who is the son of Fortune, arrived, he turned his eyes away. His father asked him why. "I detest him," he said, "because he is the friend of scoundrels and at the same time corrupts everything with the lure of gain."
[ Opes invisae merito sunt forti viro,
Quia dives arca veram laudem intercipit.
Caelo receptus propter virtutem Hercules
Cum gratulantes persalutasset deos,
Veniente Pluto, qui Fortunae est filius,
Avertit oculos. Causam quaesivit pater.
«Odi» inquit «illum, quia malis amicus est
Simulque obiecto cuncta corrumpit lucro» ]