Compare Virgil's explanation to Dante regarding the sinfulness of usury to Pa Moody's instruction to little Ralph regarding the two kinds of men in this world in
Little Britches:
Virgil to Dante:
By Art and Nature, if thou well recall
How Genesis begins, man ought to get
His bread, and make prosperity for all.
But the urserer contrives a third way yet,
And in herself and in her follower, Art,
Scorns nature, for his hope is elsewhere set.
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Pa to Ralph:
"There
are only two kinds of men in this world; Honest men and dishonest men. Some men
work almost entirely with their brains; some almost entirely with their hands;
though most of us have to use both. But we all fall into one of the two classes
- honest and dishonest. Any man who says the world owes him a living is
dishonest. The same God that made you and me made this earth. And He planned it
so that it would yield every single thing that the people on it need. But he
was careful to plan it so that it would yield up its wealth in exchange for the
labor of man. Any man who tries to share in that wealth without contributing
the work of his brain or his hands is dishonest."
Whether spoken by a medieval Italian poet or a seasoned rancher, "wisdom lifts up her voice in the streets." Proverbs 1:20
