Greed

Horace, Odes 2.2.13-16

latius regnes avidum domando
spiritum quam si Libyam remotis
Gadibus iungas et uterque Poenus
serviat uni.

crescit indulgens sibi dirus hydrops
nec sitim pellit, nisi causa morbi
fugerit venis et aquosus albo
corpore languor.

* * *

Govern your appetites: thereby you'll rule more
Than if you merged Libya with distant Gades
And made the Carthaginians of both countries
Slaves of a single state

Greed, when indulged, grows like the savage dropsy:
The thirst sticks close until the veins are rid of
The infection and the pallid, weary body
Parts with the water's weight.

Trans. James Michie, Horace's Odes