The Prologe.
Saynt
Paule Doctor of veritie, sayeth that
Auarice is the Roote and beginnyng of all euylles:
Algates the men of this tyme present, be therto much
enclined. For of all Estates fro the byghest vnto the
lowest, all geue theyr study vnto Auarice, and euery
one desyreth to haue golde and syluer: and for to haue
the same they trauayle nyght and daye, by water and
by lande, thynkyng therin to fynde quietnes and rest, whiche shal neuer
be: For in ryches is neuer reast. The more that a man hath thereof the
more he desyreth. For Auarice of the owne nature is vnsaciable, accordyng
to the saying of the Sage in the fift Chapter of Ecclesiastes. The
couetous man is neuer satisfied. And Horace the Poete sayeth that the
Couetous man is alwayes anhungred. And S. Ierome sayeth that the
looue of worldely goodes is vnsaciable. And Boece in his thyrd booke
of Consolacion sayeth that if the man whiche is auaricious had all the
worlde in his dominacion, he woulde not be content: for euer he woulde
desyer to haue worldly goodes more and more, and principally money,
whiche neuer shoulde be noyous vnto man wer not his couetise, whiche
euer brenneth mans harte: For God hath made the syluer as well as other
thynges for the seruice of man, vnto whome he hath made all thing
subiect. But whan the man setteth his appetite, and desyreth to get money
otherwyse than by ryght and conscience, that may be called auarice
whiche hath dominion vpon the man aboue reason: and so it appeareth
that she whiche shoulde be maystres is the seruaunt, and she that should
be subiecte, is the ladye, whiche is great blyndnes in man.
Thus is money maystres of the man, and man to money is subiecte,
and is therwith so abused, that he doeth more therefore than for his maker,
or for the health of his soule: O faulte of wisdome, o fault of reason,
O faulse couetise thou art cause of the perdicion of many men, thou
art cause that infinite euyls be dayly committed in this mortall worlde.
And now to shew more playnly that men be enclyned to gather money,
and consequently be subiecte to the same, I haue put here in wrytyng a
question made betwene Man and Money, by maner of a Disputacion,
whiche vary in theyr wordes the one agaynst the other: For
money woulde shewe his great power, and man speaketh agaynst hym.
But after great disputacion the man abydeth vanquished because of his
couetous mynde, confessing that it is a great felicity to haue money in possession.
