The cash which is your life, and therefore
You really live a poor man. Wherefore
I see in trade the only living
That can be truly pleasure-giving.
Hurrah for trade!
"Now profitable trade has seven branches. They are: (1) false weights and balances, (2) price-boosting, (3) keeping a pawnshop, (4) getting regular customers, (5) a stock company, (6) articles de luxe such as perfumes, (7) foreign trade.
"Now the economists say:
False weights and boosting prices to
An overshameless sum
And constant cheating of one's friends
Are fit for social scum.
And again:
Deposits in the house compel
The pawnshop man to pray:
If you will kill the owner, Lord,
I'll give you what you say.
Likewise:
The holder of a stock reflects
With glee, though one of many:
The wide world's wealth belongs to me;
No other gets a penny.
Furthermore:
Perfumery is first-class ware;
Why deal in gold and such?
Whate'er the cost, you sell it for
A thousand times as much.
