A Fool's Pursuit For Wealth Summary

A Fool's Pursuit for Wealth:

A philosophical analysis of Latin phrases

by: Jenny Nguyen

A paper submitted to Mr. Keck in partial fulfillment of

Latin II

April 12, 2015 In life, there is a constant struggle and pursuit in trying to amass one's own power, possessions, and wealth. The preexisting notion of wealth and how it came to be was taken from the vox populi (popular opinion) of limitless possibilities that could be accomplished with those accumulated resources, which had long been established in the past and reaffirmed through social stratification based on occupation. The more power a person held, the more resources or money were easily obtained. The concept of wealth differs from person to person, but it is not always accurate

The sequence of events is that a once good man had been so preoccupied with his money that his personality changed to accommodate the greed and selfishness in his heart, entailing isolation. In this interpretation, rather than a corporal death, the man suffers death in a moral sense rendering him a fool. He abandons his ideals and virtues in order that he may pursue wealth in physical pleasures. Marcus Tullius Cicero also addresses this in his orations saying that, "The only plots against us are within our own walls,—the danger is within,—the enemy is within. We must war with luxury, with madness, with wickedness." Cicero tries to advise the people of Rome that they should be cautious of not only enemies outside of the empire, but also themselves. People are subject to temptations and sinful desires, yet they are able to suppress these temptations if they have enough self-control. The hardest enemy that we will ever face is ourselves because sometimes we are unable to deny ourselves something that we truly want despite knowing it is morally wrong. Therefore the advice that can be taken from this interpretation is to practice self-control and to grow in your ideals and