Page 394
Plutarch's Morals: Vol. V.
Against running in Debt, or taking up Money upon Usury.
PLATO in his Laws permits not any one to go and draw Water from his Neighbors Well, who has not first digg'd and sunk a Pit in his own Ground, till he is come to a Vein of Clay, and has by his sounding experimented, that the Place will not yield a Spring, because the Clay or Potters Earth, being of its own Nature, fatty, solid, and strong, retains the Moisture, it receives, and will not let it soak or pierce thrô: But it must be lawful for them to take Water from anothers Ground, when there is no Way or Means for them, to find any in their own: for the Law ought to provide for Mens Necessity, but not favor their Laziness. The like Ordinance there should be also concerning Money: That none should be allow'd to borrow upon Usury, nor to go and dive into other Mens Purses, as it were into their Wells and Foun∣tains, before they have first searcht at home, and sound∣ed every Means for the obtaining it, having collected, as it were, and gather'd together all the Gutters and Springs, to try, if they can draw from them, what may suffice to supply their most necessary Occasions.