“The lust of lucre has so totally seized upon mankind, that their wealth seems rather to possess them, than they to possess their wealth.”

—  Pliny the Younger

Letter 30, 4.
Letters, Book IX

Original

Ea invasit homines habendi cupido, ut possideri magis quam possidere videantur.

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Pliny the Younger 50
Roman writer 61–113

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