But now the gods are spurn’d, their altars cold,
All reverence forgot in thirst of gold:
Gold buys the judge, and honour yields to pelf,
Shame weeps o’er Justice dead, then dies herself.
[At nunc desertis cessant sacraria lucis:
aurum omnes victa iam pietate colunt.
Auro pulsa fides, auro venalia iura,
aurum lex sequitur, mox sine lege pudor.]
Propertius (50–16 BC) Roman elegiac poet [Sextus Propertius]
Elegies, Book 3, Elegy 13, l. 47ff (3.13.47–50) [tr. Moore (1870), 4.13]
More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/propertius/86301/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #propertius #avarice #corruption #gold #greed #injustice #money #restraint #shame #virtue #wealth