Page:The cry for justice - an anthology of the literature of social protest. - (IA cryforjusticea00sinc).pdf/495

 A Home of Righteousness

(Ancient Greek Inscription)

Piety has raised this house from the first foundation even to the lofty roof; for Macedonius fashioned not his wealth by heaping up from the possessions of others with plundering sword, nor has any poor man here wept over his vain and profitless toil, being robbed of just hire; and as rest from labor is kept inviolate by the just man, so let the works of pious mortals endure.

Palaces

(From the Book of Enoch)

(Hebrew work of the Second Century, B.C., preserved only in the Ethiopic tongue)

Woe unto you who despise the humble dwelling and inheritance of your fathers! Woe unto you who build your palaces with the sweat of others! Each stone, each brick of which it is built, is a sin!

Pride in Poverty

(Chinese philosopher, B. C. 500)

Riches and honor are what men desire; but if they attain to them by improper ways, they should not continue to hold them. Poverty and low estate are what men dislike; but if they are brought to such condition by improper ways, they should not feel shame for it.