Letter 1112: Wealth is a tool, not a treasure.

To Panellenios. On the passage of Exodus: "Let each one ask of his neighbor vessels of silver and of gold," and the rest. And you, in the matter brought before you [...], breathe the highest justice. For since the Egyptians had not paid the wage to the Hebrews, who had served them for a long time, the fountain of justice contrived that it should be exacted from them against their will. For this reason He said: let each one borrow from her neighbor both furnishings of silver and of gold. Now if He had given this command to those who were not in servitude, perhaps one might reckon it to be unjust. But if He ordered those who had been robbed of their freedom to avenge themselves by means of money, then not only would I say that those men [the Egyptians] suffered no wrong, but that not even an equal penalty was demanded of them. For how is it an equal thing - the loss of money and the loss of freedom, for the sake of which those who now possess it serve as slaves not only to surrender their possessions but even to die?

Τῆς Ἐξόδου. «Αἰτήσασθε ἕκαστος παρὰ τοῦ πλησίον σκεύη ἀργυρᾶ καὶ χρυσᾶ, » καὶ τὰ λοιπά. Καὶ σὺ, δ ᾟς προβελῆσθαι τὴν πρὸς σὲ διενεχθέντα, δικαιοσύνης ἀκροτάτης πνεῖ. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ τοῖς Ἑβραίοις (77) μακρὸν δουλεύσασιν οἱ Αἰγύπτιοι χρόνον τὸν μισθὸν οὐκ ἀπέδοσαν, ἄκοντας αὐτοὺς εἰσπραχθῆναι παρεσκεύασεν ἡ τῆς δικαιοσύνης πηγή. Διὰ τοῦτ’, ἔφη, χρησάσθω ἕκαστος παρὰ τῆς γείτονος. αὐτοῦ καὶ συσκευήν ἀργυρᾶ καὶ χρυσᾶ. Εἰ δὲ μὲν γὰρ μὴ δουλεύουσι τοῦτο προσέταξεν, ἴσως ἂν τὶς ἄδικον τοῦτο ἀνομίσει εἶναι. Εἰ δὲ τοὺς τὴν ἐλευθερίαν ἀφελομένους χρήμασιν ἀμύνασθαι ἐκέλευσεν, οὐ μόνον μὴ ἠδικήσθαι ἐκείνους ἂν ἔγωγε φαίην, ἀλλὰ μηδὲ τὴν ἴσην τιμωρίαν ἀπῃτῆσθαι· ποὺ γὰρ ἴσον, χρημάτων στέρησις, καὶ ἐλευθερίας, ὑπὲρ ἧς οὐ μόνον τὰς οὐσίας προΐεσθαι, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀποθνήσκειν οἱ νῦν ἔχοντες δουλεύουσιν;