Yet many of the leading Greek and Roman thinkers opposed this
practical settlement of the question, and, foremost of all,
Aristotle. In a metaphysical way he declared that money is by
nature "barren"; that the birth of money from money is therefore
"unnatural"; and hence that the taking of interest is to be
censured and hated. Plato, Plutarch, both the Catos, Cicero,
Seneca, and various other leaders of ancient thought, arrived at
much the same conclusion--sometimes from sympathy with oppressed
debtors; sometimes from dislike of usurers; sometimes from simple
contempt of trade.
From these sources there came into the early Church the germ of a
theological theory upon the subject.
But far greater was the stream of influence from the Jewish and
Christian sacred books. In the Old Testament stood various texts
condemning usury--the term usury meaning any taking of interest:
the law of Moses, while it allowed usury in dealing with strangers,
forbade it in dealing with Jews. In the New Testament, in the
Sermon on the Mount, as given by St.
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