26.
Certain of our school oppose this statement as follows: “Let us suppose that money taken from any source whatsoever is a good; even though it is taken by an act of sacrilege, the money does not on that account derive its origin from sacrilege.
You may get my meaning through the following illustration: In the same jar there is a piece of gold and there is a serpent.
If you take the gold from the jar, it is not just because the serpent is there too, I say, that the jar yields me the gold—because it contains the serpent as well,—but it yields the gold in spite of containing the serpent also.
Similarly, gain results from sacrilege, not just because sacrilege is a base and accursed act, but because it contains gain also.
As the serpent in the jar is an evil, and not the gold which lies there, beside the serpent; so in an act of sacrilege it is the crime, not the profit, that is evil.”
Book: Moral Letters Vol II
Subtitle: Seneca's timeless letters of advice and wisdom.
Author: Seneca
Chapter: Some arguments in favour of the simple life
Location: Chapter 87, Section 26
Content:
26.
Certain of our school oppose this statement as follows: “Let us suppose that money taken from any source whatsoever is a good; even though it is taken by an act of sacrilege, the money does not on that account derive its origin from sacrilege.
You may get my meaning through the following illustration: In the same jar there is a piece of gold and there is a serpent.
If you take the gold from the jar, it is not just because the serpent is there too, I say, that the jar yields me the gold—because it contains the serpent as well,—but it yields the gold in spite of containing the serpent also.
Similarly, gain results from sacrilege, not just because sacrilege is a base and accursed act, but because it contains gain also.
As the serpent in the jar is an evil, and not the gold which lies there, beside the serpent; so in an act of sacrilege it is the crime, not the profit, that is evil.”