All 14 Uses
avarice
in
The Divine Comedy -- translated by Longfellow
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- The just are two, and are not understood there;
Envy and Arrogance and Avarice
Are the three sparks that have all hearts enkindled.†Canto 1.1-11avarice = excessive desire for wealth - Clerks those were who no hairy covering
Have on the head, and Popes and Cardinals,
In whom doth Avarice practise its excess.†Canto 1.1-11 - Old rumour in the world proclaims them blind;
A people avaricious, envious, proud;
Take heed that of their customs thou do cleanse thee.†Canto 1.12-22 *avaricious = having or showing excessive desire for wealth - Not the sole Bolognese am I who weeps here;
Nay, rather is this place so full of them,
That not so many tongues to-day are taught
'Twixt Reno and Savena to say 'sipa;'
And if thereof thou wishest pledge or proof,
Bring to thy mind our avaricious heart.†Canto 1.12-22 - And were it not that still forbids it me
The reverence for the keys superlative
Thou hadst in keeping in the gladsome life,
I would make use of words more grievous still;
Because your avarice afflicts the world,
Trampling the good and lifting the depraved.†Canto 1.12-22avarice = excessive desire for wealth - Until that time a wretched soul and parted
From God was I, and wholly avaricious;
Now, as thou seest, I here am punished for it.†Canto 2.12-22avaricious = having or showing excessive desire for wealth - What avarice does is here made manifest
In the purgation of these souls converted,
And no more bitter pain the Mountain has.†Canto 2.12-22avarice = excessive desire for wealth - As avarice had extinguished our affection
For every good, whereby was action lost,
So justice here doth hold us in restraint,
Bound and imprisoned by the feet and hands;
And so long as it pleases the just Lord
Shall we remain immovable and prostrate.†Canto 2.12-22 - What more, O Avarice, canst thou do to us,
Since thou my blood so to thyself hast drawn,
It careth not for its own proper flesh?†Canto 2.12-22 - At that time we repeat Pygmalion,
Of whom a traitor, thief, and parricide
Made his insatiable desire of gold;
And the misery of avaricious Midas,
That followed his inordinate demand,
At which forevermore one needs but laugh.†Canto 2.12-22avaricious = having or showing excessive desire for wealth - But tell me, and forgive me as a friend,
If too great confidence let loose the rein,
And as a friend now hold discourse with me;
How was it possible within thy breast
For avarice to find place, 'mid so much wisdom
As thou wast filled with by thy diligence?†Canto 2.12-22avarice = excessive desire for wealth - Thy question shows me thy belief to be
That I was niggard in the other life,
It may be from the circle where I was;
Therefore know thou, that avarice was removed
Too far from me; and this extravagance
Thousands of lunar periods have punished.†Canto 2.12-22 - Therefore if I have been among that folk
Which mourns its avarice, to purify me,
For its opposite has this befallen me.†Canto 2.12-22 - There shall be seen the pride that causes thirst,
Which makes the Scot and Englishman so mad
That they within their boundaries cannot rest;
Be seen the luxury and effeminate life
Of him of Spain, and the Bohemian,
Who valour never knew and never wished;
Be seen the Cripple of Jerusalem,
His goodness represented by an I,
While the reverse an M shall represent;
Be seen the avarice and poltroonery
Of him who guards the Island of the Fire,
Wherein Anchises finished his long life;
And to declare how pitiful he is
Shall be his record in contracted letters
Which shall make note of much in little space.†Canto 3.12-22
Definitions:
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(1)
(avarice) excessive desire for wealthLike "greed", but implies greed specifically for money. The early Christian Church counted avarice as one of the "seven deadly sins."
- (2) (meaning too rare to warrant focus)