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WHAT NATURE WANTS, COMMODIOUS GOLD BESTOWS
Il primo '700 britannico alle prese con il ruolo corruttore del metallo aureo

Who shall decide, when Doctors disagree, / And soundest Casuists doubt like you and me? / You hold the Word, from Jove to Momus giv'n, / That man was made the standing jest of heav'n, / And Gold but sent to keep the fools in play, / For some to heap, and half to throw away. / But I, who think more highly of our kind, / (And surely Heav'n and I are of a mind) / Opine, that Nature, as in duty bound, / Deep hid the shining mischief under ground: / But when, by Man's audacious labour won, / Flam'd forth this rival to its Sire the Sun, / Then careful Heav'n supply'd two sorts of men, / To squander These, and Those to hide agen. / Like Doctors thus, when much dispute has past, / We find our Tenets just the same at last. / Both fairly owning, Riches in effect / No grace of Heav'n, or token of th'Elect; / Giv'n to the Fool, the Mad, the Vain, the Evil. / To Ward, to Waters, Chartres, and the Devil. / What Nature wants, commodious Gold bestows, / 'Tis thus we eat the bread another sows: / But how unequal it bestows, observe, / 'Tis thus we riot, while who sow it, starve. / What Nature wants (a phrase I much distrust) / Extends to Luxury, extends to Lust: / Useful, I grant, it serves what life requires, / But dreadful too, the dark Assassin hires: / Trade it may help, Society extend; / But lures the Pyrate, and corrupts the Friend: / It raises armies in a Nation's aid, / But bribes a Senate, and the land's betray'd. / In vain may Heroes fight, and Patriots rave, / If secret Gold saps on from knave to knave. / Once, we confess, beneath the Patriot's cloak, / From the crack'd bag the dropping Guinea spoke, / And gingling down the back-stairs, told the crew, / 'Old Cato is as great a Rogue as you.' / Blest Paper-credit! Last and best supply! / That lends Corruption lighter wings to fly! / Gold, imp'd by thee, can compass hardest things, / Can pocket States, or fetch or carry Kings; / A single leaf can waft an Army o'er, / Or ship off Senates to a distant shore; / A leaf like Sybil's, scatters to and fro / Our fates and fortunes as the winds shall blow; / Pregnant with thousands flits the scrap unseen, / And silent sells a King, or buys a Queen.

The Sense to value riches, with the Art / T'enjoy them, and the Virtue to impart, / Not meanly, nor ambitiously pursu'd / Not sunk by sloth, nor rais'd by servitude; / To balance Fortune by a just expence, / Join with Oeconomy, Magnificence, / With splendor, charity, with plenty, health; / Oh teach us, Bathurst! yet unspoild by wealth! / That secret rare, between th'extremes to move / Of mad Good-nature, and of mean Self-love. / To Want, or Worth, well-weigh'd, be bounty giv'n, / And ease, or emulate, the care of Heav'n; / (Whose measure full o'erflows on human race) / Mend fortune's fault, and justifies her grace. / Wealth in the gross is death, but life diffus'd, / As Poison heals, in just proportion us'd: / In heaps, like Ambergrise, a stink it lies, / But well dispers'd, is Incence to the skies.

Who builds a Church to God, and not to Fame, / Will never mark the marble with his name: / Go search it there, where to be born and die, / Of rich and poor makes all the history; / Enough, that Virtue fill'd the space between; / Prov'd, by the Ends of Being, to have been. / When Hopkins dies, a thousand lights attend / The wretch, who living sav'd a candle's end: / Should'ring God's alter a vile image stands, / Belies his features, nay extends his hands, / That live-long wig which Gorgon's self might own, / Eternal buckle takes in Parian stone. / Behold what blessings Wealth to life can lend! / And see, what comfort it affords our end.

Alexander Pope, (dalla) EPISTLE III. To the Right Honourable Allen Lord Bathurst: Of the use of Riches, da Poetical Works, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1989


  • (to) bribe: corrompere
  • By a just expence: con il giusto prezzo
  • Casuists: casista, sofista, cavillatore
  • Crack'd bag: borsa rotta
  • (to) gingle (jingle): tintinnare
  • (to) heap: accumulare
  • (to) hire: pagare, ingaggiare
  • In the gross: nel complesso
  • Labour: fatica
  • Leaf:(foglio di) banconote, foglio di credito
  • (to) lure: tentare, blandire
  • Oeconomy: risparmio
  • Paper-credit: credito di cartamoneta
  • (to) pocket: intascarsi
  • (to) raise: radunare
  • Scrap: ritaglio, frammento, foglietto
  • Shining mischief: metallo malefico e luccicante
  • Sire: signore
  • (to) sow: seminare
  • Standing jest: eterno zimbello
  • Token: segno
  • Trade: affari
  • Wealth: ricchezza
  • Wig: parrucca