Furem Dupli, Feneratorem Quadrupli

The Thief Paid Double; the Usurer, Fourfold

M. Porcius Cato de aere alieno civitatum.

Cato the Censor on the debts of nations.

M. Porcius Cato

Censor anno DLXX a.u.c.Censor, 184 B.C. · RES PVBLICA

a.d. V Id. Oct. · MMDCCLXXIX a.u.c.

11 October 2026 · 1 minutae legendimin read

Furem Dupli, Feneratorem QuadrupliThe Thief Paid Double; the Usurer, Fourfold

Textus paragraphis congruitParagraphs aligned for learners

LATINEANGLICE

Maiores nostri sic habuerunt et ita in legibus posuerunt: furem dupli condemnari, feneratorem quadrupli. Vos feneratores in templis collocatis et tabulas eorum adoratis.

Our ancestors held it so, and set it down in their laws: the thief to be fined double, the usurer fourfold. You install your usurers in temples and worship their ledgers.

Ceterum censeo aes alienum esse delendum.

Furthermore, I hold that the debt must be destroyed.

· FINIS ·

FONTES ANTIQVIANCIENT SOURCES

Cato, Agr. praef. 1furem dupli condemnari, feneratorem quadrupli.

FONTES HODIERNITODAY’S SOURCES

—Haec sententia ex ipsius ingenio, non ex nuntio singulari.This piece reflects on the times rather than a single report.

Res ex fontibus; sententia Romani.Facts from the sources; the opinion is the Roman’s.

M. Porcius Cato

234–149 a.C.n.234–149 B.C. · Mores · PecuniaMorals · Money

Rusticus Tusculanus, miles, censor severissimus; luxuriae, feneratorum, Graecorum hostis. Librum de agri cultura scripsit, qui adhuc legitur. Omnem orationem sententia de re delenda claudit.A farmer from Tusculum, a soldier, the sternest censor Rome ever had; enemy of luxury, of usurers, and of Greek refinement. His book on farming is still read. He closes every speech by naming something that must be destroyed.

Haec vox restituta est ex his libris:This voice is reconstructed from:

De Agri CulturaOrigines (fragm.)Orationes (fragm.)

Omnia scripta →Everything by this writer →