The Richest Man in Babylon

Overall view of the book

1. Good book for basics about managing finances and for strategies for savings and managing expenses and investments.
2. The more I think about it, the more I realize that this is exactly the strategy that our grandfathers must have used to accumulate many acres of farm land in their life times just by their hard work. Even though they had multiple children, the grandfathers still managed to leave all their children with multiple acres of land (after dividing the land that they earned in their lifetimes). It must have taken incredible amounts of hard work, planning and self-restraint to amass as much wealth as they did in their lifetimes. They are a true inspiration.

Intro

Our prosperity as a nation depends upon the personal financial prosperity of each of us as individuals.

This book of “cures for lean purses” has been termed a guide to financial understanding. Its purpose is to offer those who are ambitious for financial success an insight which will aid them to acquire money, to keep money and to make their surpluses earn more money.

Success means accomplishments as the result of our own efforts and abilities. Proper preparation is the key to our success. Our acts can be no wiser than our thoughts. Our thinking can be no wiser than our understanding.

Chapter 1. An Historical Sketch of Babylon

The first idea that strikes you is how Babylon was a region that had no natural resources. One naturally pictures such a wealthy city as located in a suitable setting of tropical luxury, surrounded by rich natural resources of forests, and mines. Such was not the case. It was located beside the Euphrates River, in a flat, arid valley. It had no forests, no mines — not even stone for building. It was not even located upon a natural trade-route. The rainfall was insufficient to raise crops.

Babylon is an outstanding example of man’s ability to achieve great objectives, using whatever means are at his disposal. All of the resources supporting this large city were man-developed. All of its riches were manmade.

All the riches of the city were created by man. Their wealth came from the ability of its people to articulate, promote value in their pro- activity.

Babylon possessed just two natural resources — a fertile soil and water in the river.

With one of the greatest engineering accomplishments of this or any other day, Babylonian engineers diverted the waters from the river by means of dams and immense irrigation canals.

The outstanding rulers of Babylon live in history because of their wisdom, enterprise and justice. Babylon produced no strutting monarchs who sought to conquer the known world that all nations might pay homage to their egotism.

As a city, Babylon exists no more. When those energizing human forces that built and maintained the city for thousands of years were withdrawn, it soon became a deserted ruin.

Many scientists consider the civilization of Babylon and other cities in this valley to be the oldest of which there is a definite record. Positive dates have been proved reaching back 8000 years.

They were an educated and enlightened people. So far as written history goes, they were the first engineers, the first astronomers, the first mathematicians, the first financiers and the first people to have a written language.

Herodotus, the Greek traveler and historian, visited Babylon while it was in its prime and has given us the only known description by an outsider. He mentions the remarkable fertility of the soil and the bountiful harvest of wheat and barley which they produced.

In that distant day, the use of paper had not been invented. Instead, they laboriously engraved their writing upon tablets of moist clay. When completed, these were baked and became hard tile. In size, they were about six by eight inches, and an inch in thickness.

Safely buried in the wrecked cities, archaeologists have recovered entire libraries of these tablets, hundreds of thousands of them.

At a very early period when the rest of the world was still hacking at trees with stone-headed axes, or hunting and fighting with flint-pointed spears and arrows, the Babylonians were using axes, spears and arrows with metal heads. The Babylonians were clever financiers and traders. So far as we know, they were the original inventors of money as a means of exchange, of promissory notes and written titles to property.

Thereafter the power and prestige of the city gradually waned until, in the course of a few hundred years, it was eventually abandoned, deserted, left for the winds and storms to level once again to that desert earth from which its grandeur had originally been built. Babylon had fallen, never to rise again, but to it civilization owes much.

The eons of time have crumbled to dust the proud walls of its temples, but the wisdom of Babylon endures.

Money is the medium by which earthly success is measured.

Money makes possible the enjoyment of the best the earth affords.

Money is plentiful for those who understand the simple laws which govern its acquisition.

Money is governed today by the same laws which controlled it when prosperous men thronged the streets of Babylon, six thousand years ago.

Babylon became the wealthiest city of the ancient world because its citizens were the richest people of their time. They appreciated the value of money. They practiced sound financial principles in acquiring money, keeping money and making their money earn more money. They provided for themselves what we all desire… incomes for the future.

Chapter 2. The Man Who Desired Gold

In this chapter, there are some great questions about why people don’t have wealth.

The chapter talks about a poor chariot builder and a conversation between him and his friend Kobbi (who is also poor).

We have been contented subjects of our kind. We have been satisfied to work long hours and spend our earnings freely. We have earned much coin in the years that have passed, yet to know the joys that come from wealth, we must dream about them. Bah! Are we more than dumb sheep?

About us is much display of wealth, but of it we ourselves have naught. After half a lifetime of hard labor, we have empty purses. What is the matter? Why cannot we acquire silver and gold — more than enough for food and robes?

Consider, also, our sons, are they not following in the footsteps of their fathers? Need they and their families and their sons and their sons’ families live all their lives in the midst of such treasurers of gold, and yet, like us, be content to banquet upon sour goat’s milk and porridge?

From early dawn until darkness stopped me, I have labored, soft-heartedly hoping some day the Gods would recognize my worthy deeds and bestow upon me great prosperity. This they have never done. At last, I realize this they will never do.

Everyone wishes to be a man of means. Wishes to own lands and cattle, to have fine robes and coins in their purses. They are willing to work for these things with all the strength in their backs, with all the skill in their hands, with all the cunning in their minds, and they wish their labors to be fairly rewarded.

What is the matter with us? Why cannot we have our just share of the good things so plentiful for those who have the gold with which to buy them?

My earnings are quickly gone. Often must I plan and scheme that my family be not hungry. Also, within my breast is a deep longing for things.

There are a lot of poor people around us. Naught of happiness to look forward to. Beds of straw upon which to sleep — hard grain porridge to eat. Pity the poor brutes. Yet, make yourself see how little better off are we, free men though we call ourselves.

That is truth, unpleasant thought though it be. We do not wish to go on year after year living slavish lives. Working, working, working! Getting nowhere.

Might we not find out how others acquire gold and do as they do?

Perhaps there is some secret we might learn if we but sought from those who knew.

Here, they talk about their friend Arkad. He is claimed to be the richest man in all Babylon. So rich the king is said to seek his golden aid in affairs of the treasury.

A man’s wealth is not in the purse he carries. A fat purse quickly empties if there be no golden stream to refill it. One needs to have an income that constantly keeps his purse full, no matter how liberally he spends.

A new light gleamed in Bansir’s eyes. “It costs nothing to ask wise advice from a good friend. Never mind though our purses be as empty as the falcon’s nest of a year ago. Let that not detain us. We are weary of being without gold in the midst of plenty. We wish to become men of means. Come, let us go to Arkad and ask how we, also, may acquire incomes for ourselves.”

Think about the reason why we have never found any measure of wealth. We never sought it. We labor patiently at our day jobs. To that purpose was devoted our best endeavors. Therefore, at it, we do succeed.

“In those things toward which we exerted our best endeavors we succeeded. The Gods were content to let us continue thus. Now, at last, we see a light, bright like that from the rising sun. It bids us to learn more that we may prosper more. With a new understanding we shall find honourable ways to accomplish our desires.”

Chapter 3. The Richest Man In Babylon

Arkad:

Far and wide he was famed for his great wealth. Also was be famed for his liberality. He was generous in his charities. He was generous with his family. He was liberal in his own expenses. But nevertheless each year his wealth increased more rapidly than he spent it.

His old friends will say to him “Once we were equal. We studied under the same master. We played in the same games. And in neither the studies nor the games did you outshine us. And in the years since, you have been no more an honorable citizen than we. Nor have you worked harder or more faithfully, insofar as we can judge.”

Arkad would tell them:

If you have not acquired more than a bare existence in the years since we were youths, it is because you either have failed to learn the laws that govern the building of wealth, or else you do not observe them.

“Fickle Fate’ is a vicious goddess who brings no permanent good to anyone. On the contrary, she brings ruin to almost every man upon whom she showers unearned gold. She makes wanton spenders, who soon dissipate all they receive and are left beset by overwhelming appetites and desires they have not the ability to gratify. Yet others whom she favors become misers and hoard their wealth, fearing to spend what they have, knowing they do not possess the ability to replace it. They further are beset by fear of robbers and doom themselves to lives of emptiness and secret misery.

“In my youth I looked about me and saw all the good things there were to bring happiness and contentment. And I realized that wealth increased the potency of all these. Wealth is a power. With wealth many things are possible.”

And, when I realized all this,

I decided to myself that I would claim my share of the good things of life. I would not be one of those who stand afar off, enviously watching others enjoy. I would not be content to clothe myself in the cheapest raiment that looked respectable. I would not be satisfied with the lot of a poor man. On the contrary, I would make myself a guest at this banquet of good things.

I decided that if I was to achieve what I desired, time and study would be required.

“As for time, all men have it in abundance. You, each of you, have let slip by sufficient time to have made yourselves wealthy. Yet, you admit; you have nothing to show except your good families, of which you can be justly proud.

“As for study, did not our wise teacher teach us that learning was of two kinds: the one kind being the things we learned and knew, and the other being the training that taught us how to find out what we did not know?

“Therefore did I decide to find out how one might accumulate wealth, and when I had found out, to make this my task and do it well. For, is it not wise that we should enjoy while we dwell in the brightness of the sunshine, for sorrows enough shall descend upon us when we depart for the darkness of the world of spirit?

Lessons that Arkad learnt from Algamish, the money lender:

An old tongue loves to wag. And when youth (a young one) comes to age (an old person) for advice he receives the wisdom of years. But too often does youth think that age knows only the wisdom of days that are gone, and therefore profits not. But remember this, the sun that shines today is the sun that shone when thy father was born, and will still be shining when thy last grandchild shall pass into the darkness.

The thoughts of youth, are bright lights that shine forth like the meteors that oft make brilliant the sky, but the wisdom of age is like the fixed stars that shine so unchanged that the sailor may depend upon them to steer his course.

I found the road to wealth when I decided that a part of all I earned was mine to keep. And so will you. That was sufficient to change the heart of a sheep herder into the heart of a money lender.

But isn’t everything we earn ours to keep? Far from it. Don’t you have expenses? What have you to show for your earnings of the past mouth? What for the past year? Fool! You pay to everyone but yourself. Dullard, you labor for others. As well be a slave and work for what your master gives you to eat and wear.

If you did keep for yourself one-tenth of all you earn, how much would you have in ten years? As much as you earn in one year. But that is only half the truth.

‘Every gold piece you save is a slave to work for you. Every copper it earns is its child that also can earn for you. If you would become wealthy, then what you save must earn, and its children must earn, that all may help to give to you the abundance you crave.’

A part of all you earn is yours to keep. It should be not less than a tenth no matter how little you earn. It can be as much more as you can afford. Pay yourself first.

Do not buy from the clothes-maker and the sandal-maker more than you can pay out of the rest and still have enough for food and charity.

“Wealth, like a tree, grows from a tiny seed. The first copper you save is the seed from which your tree of wealth shall grow. The sooner you plant that seed the sooner shall the tree grow. And the more faithfully you nourish and water that tree with consistent savings, the sooner may you bask in contentment beneath its shade.'

“Advice is one thing that is freely given away, but watch that you take only what is worth having. He who takes advice about his savings from one who is inexperienced in such matters, shall pay with his savings for proving the falsity of their opinions.”

You do eat the children of your savings. Then how do you expect them to work for you? And how can they have children that will also work for you?” (Don’t spend your savings or the interest from your savings.)

First get thee an army of golden slaves and then many a rich banquet may you enjoy without regret.

First, learn to live upon less than you could earn. Next, learn to seek advice from those who were competent through their own experiences to give it. And, lastly, learn to make gold work for you. Teach yourself how to acquire money, how to keep it, and how to use it.

Arkad teaches his friends:

Opportunity is a haughty goddess who wastes no time with those who are unprepared.

You have to have a strong desire first. Would you call a fisherman lucky, who for years study the habits of the fish, that with each changing wind he could cast his nets about them? A man has to work his way out of darkness into light. When that man finds the light, a place awaits him. No one could fill that place until he, for himself, works out his own understanding, until he is ready for opportunity.

“Will power is nonsense. Do you think will power gives a man the strength to lift a burden the camel cannot carry, or to draw a load the oxen cannot budge? Will power is but the unflinching purpose to carry a task you set for yourself to fulfillment. If I set for myself a task, be it ever so trifling, I shall see it through. How else shall I have confidence in myself to do important things? Should I say to myself, ‘For a hundred days as I walk across the bridge into the city, I will pick from the road a pebble and cast it into the stream,’ I would do it.

If on the seventh day I passed by without remembering, I would not say to myself, Tomorrow I will cast two pebbles which will do as well.’ Instead, I would retrace my steps and cast the pebble. Nor on the twentieth day would I say to myself, ‘Arkad, this is useless. What does it avail you to cast a pebble every day? Throw in a handful and be done with it.’ No, I would not say that nor do it. When I set a task for myself, I complete it.

Therefore, I am careful not to start difficult and impractical tasks, because I love leisure.”

One of his friends say “If everyone did what you suggested, there would not be enough weath to go around.”

Arkad: Wealth grows wherever men exert energy,” Arkad replied. “If a rich man builds him a new palace, is the gold he pays out gone? No, the brickmaker has part of it and the laborer has part of it, and the artist has part of it. And everyone who labors upon the house has part of it Yet when the palace is completed, is it not worth all it cost? And is the ground upon which it stands not worth more because it is there? And is the ground that adjoins it not worth more because it is there? Wealth grows in magic ways. No man can prophesy the limit of it.

Pay yourself first. Fill yourself with the thought. Then take whatever portion seems wise. Let it be not less than one-tenth and lay it by. Arrange your other expenditures to do this if necessary. But lay by that portion first. Soon you will realize what a rich feeling it is to own a treasure upon which you alone have claim. As it grows it will stimulate you. A new joy of life will thrill you.

“Then learn to make your treasure work for you. Make it your slave. Make its children and its children’s children work for you.

“Insure an income for thy future. Look thou at the aged and forget not that in the days to come thou also will be numbered among them. Therefore invest thy treasure with greatest caution that it be not lost. Usurious rates of return are deceitful sirens that sing but to lure the unwary upon the rocks of loss and remorse.

“Provide also that thy family may not want should the Gods call thee to their realms. For such protection it is always possible to make provision with small payments at regular intervals. Therefore the provident man delays not in expectation of a large sum becoming available for such a wise purpose. “Counsel with wise men. Seek the advice of men whose daily work is handling money. Let them save you from such an error as I myself made in entrusting my money to the judgment of Azmur, the brickmaker. A small return and a safe one is far more desirable than risk.

“Enjoy life while you are here. Do not overstrain or try to save too much. If one-tenth of all you earn is as much as you can comfortably keep, be content to keep this portion. Live otherwise according to your income and let not yourself get niggardly and afraid to spend. Life is good and life is rich with things worthwhile and things to enjoy.”

Chapter 4. Seven Cures For a Lean Purse

Babylon was always not so rich. The riches of Babylon were the results of the wisdom of its people. They first had to learn how to become wealthy.

The king once faced this situation: For many years, there was great prosperity brought to the people, because the king built great irrigation canals and the mighty temples of the Gods. After these works were completed, the people seem unable to support themselves. The laborers are without employment. The merchants have few customers. The farmers are unable to sell their produce. The people have not enough gold to buy food. The king wondered “But where has all the gold gone that we spent for these great improvements?”

The Chancelor replied: “It has found its way into the possession of a few very rich men of our city. It filtered through the fingers of most our people as quickly as the goat’s milk goes through the strainer. Now that the stream of gold has ceased to flow, most of our people have nothing to for their earnings.”

The king asked: “Why should so few men be able to acquire all the gold?”

The Chancelor said: “Because they know how. One may not condemn a man for succeeding because he knows how. Neither may one with justice take away from a man what he has fairly earned, to give to men of less ability.”

The king asked: “But why should not all the people learn how to accumulate gold and therefore become themselves rich and prosperous?”

So, they call Arkad and asks him how he became wealthy.

Arkad: By taking advantage of opportunities available to all citizens of our good city. Only a great desire for wealth. Besides this, I had nothing to start with.

So the king asks Arkad to teach his knowledge to some teachers so that the teachers can teach other people and everyone will have that knowledge.

Arkad: Let your good chancellor arrange for me a class of one hundred men and I will teach to them those seven cures which did fatten my purse, than which there was none leaner in all Babylon.

His teachings:

I sought every remedy for a lean purse. I found seven.

THE FIRST CURE. Start thy purse to fattening

There are many trades and labors at which men may earn coins. Each of the ways of earning is a stream of gold from which the worker doth divert by his labors a portion to his own purse. Therefore into the purse of each of you flows a stream of coins large or small according to his ability.

If each of you desires to build for himself a fortune, it is wise to start by utilizing that source of wealth which he already has established.

For every ten coins thou placest within thy purse, take out for use but nine. Thy purse will start to fatten at once and its increasing weight will feel good in thy hand and bring satisfaction to thy soul.

When I ceased to take out more than nine-tenths of my earnings, I managed to get along just as well. I was not shorter than before. Also, coins came to me more easily than before. Surely, it is a law of the Gods that unto him who keepeth and spendeth not a certain part of all his earnings, shall gold come more easily. Likewise, him whose purse is empty does gold avoid.

What do you desire the most? Is it the gratification of your desires of each day, a jewel, a bit of finery, better raiment, more food; things quickly gone and forgotten? Or is it substantial belongings, gold, lands, herds, merchandise, income-bringing investments? The coins you take out from your purse bring the first. The coins you leave within it will bring the latter.

THE SECOND CURE. Control thy expenditures

How can a man keep one-tenth of all he earns in his purse when all the coins he earns are not enough for his necessary expenses?

That what each of us calls our ‘necessary expenses’ will always grow to equal our incomes unless we protest to the contrary.

Don’t confuse the necessary expenses with your desires. Each of you, together with your good families, have more desires than your earnings can gratify. Therefore your earnings are spent to gratify these desires in-so-far as they will go. Still, you retain many ungratified desires.

All men are burdened with more desires than they can gratify. Because of my wealth, do you think I may gratify my every desire? It a false idea. There are limits to my time. There are limits to my strength. There are limits to the distance I may travel. There are limits to what I may eat. There are limits to the zest with which I may enjoy.

Just as weeds grow in a field wherever the farmer leaves space for their roots, even so freely do desires grow in men whenever there is a possibility of their being gratified. Their desires are a multitude and those that they may gratify are but few.

Study thoughtfully your accustomed habits of living. Herein may be most often found certain accepted expenses that may wisely be reduced or eliminated. Let your motto be 100% of appreciated value demanded for each coin spent.

Engrave upon the clay each thing for which you desireth to spend. Select those that are necessary and others that are possible through the expenditure of nine- tenths of your income. Cross out the rest and consider them a part of that great multitude of desires that must go unsatisfied and don’t regret them.

Then, budget your necessary expenses. Touch not the one-tenth that is fattening your purse. Let this be your great desire that is being fulfilled. Keep working with your budget, keep adjusting it to help you. Make it your first assistant in defending your fattening purse.

The purpose of a budget is to help your purse to fatten. It is to assist you to have your necessities and, in-so-far as attainable, your other desires. It is to enable you to realize your most cherished desires by defending them from your casual wishes. Like a bright light in a dark cave, your budget shows up the leaks from your purse and enables you to stop them and control your expenditures for definite and gratifying purposes.

This is the second cure for a lean purse. Budget your expenses that you may have coins to pay for your necessities, to pay for your enjoyments and to gratify your worthwhile desires without spending more than nine-tenths of your earnings.

THE THIRD CURE. Make thy gold multiply

Next, consider means to put your treasure to labor and to increase. Gold in a purse is gratifying to own and satisfies a miserly soul but earns nothing. The gold we may retain from our earnings is but the start.

The earnings it will make shall build our fortunes.

A man’s wealth is not in the coins he carries in his purse; it is the income he builds, the golden stream that continually flows into his purse and keeps it always bulging. That is what every man desires. That is what you, each one of you desire; an income that continues to come whether you work or travel.

Extend your loans and investments as your capital increases. From a few sources at first, from many sources later, flows into your purse a golden stream of wealth available for such wise uses as you should decide.

Put each coin to laboring that it may reproduce its kind even as the flocks of the field and help bring income to you, a stream of wealth that shall flow constantly into your purse.

THE FOURTH CURE. Guard thy treasures from loss

Misfortune loves a shining mark. Gold in a man’s purse must be guarded with firmness, else it be lost. Thus it is wise that we must first secure small amounts and learn to protect them before the Gods entrust us with larger.

Every owner of gold is tempted by opportunities whereby it would seem that he could make large sums by its investment in most plausible projects. Often friends and relatives are eagerly entering such investment and urge him to follow.

The first sound principle of investment is security for thy principal. The penalty of risk is probable loss. Be not misled by your own romantic desires to make wealth rapidly.

Before thou entrust it as an investment in any field acquaint thyself with the dangers which may beset it.

Be not too confident of thine own wisdom in entrusting thy treasures to the possible pitfalls of investments. Better by far to consult the wisdom of those experienced in handling money for profit. Such advice is freely given for the asking and may readily possess a value equal in gold to the sum thou considerest investing. In truth, such is its actual value if it save thee from loss.

Guard thy treasure from loss by investing only where thy principal is safe, where it may be reclaimed if desirable, and where thou will not fail to collect a fair rental. Consult with wise men. Secure the advice of those experienced in the profitable handling of gold. Let their wisdom protect thy treasure from unsafe investments.

THE FIFTH CURE. Make of thy dwelling a profitable investment

All too many of our men of Babylon do raise their families in unseemly quarters. They do pay to exacting landlords liberal rentals for rooms where their wives have not a spot to raise the blooms that gladden a woman’s heart and their children have no place to play their games except in the unclean alleys.

No man’s family can fully enjoy life unless they do have a plot of ground wherein children can play in the clean earth and where the wife may raise not only blossoms but good rich herbs to feed her family.

It brings gladness to a man’s heart to eat the figs from his own trees and the grapes of his own vines. To own his own domicile and to have it a place he is proud to care for, puts confidence in his heart and greater effort behind all his endeavors. Every man should own the roof that shelters him and his family.

Own thy own home.

THE SIXTH CURE. Insure a future income

The life of every man proceedeth from his childhood to his old age.

It behooves a man to make preparation for a suitable income in the days to come, when he is no longer young, and to make preparations for his family should he be no longer with them to comfort and support them. Instruct yourself to provide a full purse when time has made you less able to learn.

No man can afford not to insure a treasure for his old age and the protection of his family, no matter how prosperous his business and his investments may be.

Provide in advance for the needs of your growing age and the protection of your family.

THE SEVENTH CURE. Increase thy ability to earn

What can you do to increase thy capacity to earn?

Preceding accomplishment must be desire. Thy desires must be strong and definite. General desires are but weak longings. For a man to wish to be rich is of little purpose. For a man to desire five pieces of gold is a tangible desire which he can press to fulfillment.

After he has backed his desire for five pieces of gold with strength of purpose to secure it, next he can find similar ways to obtain ten pieces and then twenty pieces and later a thousand pieces.

Desires must be simple and definite. They defeat their own purpose should they be too many, too confusing, or beyond a man’s training to accomplish.

More interest in your work, more concentration upon your task, more persistence in your effort, and, behold, few men could do the job better than you can. With reasonable promptness, your increased skill will be rewarded.

The more of wisdom we know, the more we may earn. That man who seeks to learn more of his craft shall be richly rewarded.

All men to be in the front rank of progress and not to stand still, lest they be left behind.

Cultivate your own powers, to study and become wiser, to become more skillful, to so act as to respect yourself. Thereby you shall acquire confidence in yourself to achieve your carefully considered desires.

Chapter 5. Meet the Goddess of Good Luck

“If a man be lucky, there is no foretelling the possible extent of his good fortune. Pitch him into the Euphrates and like as not he will swim out with a pearl in his hand.” —Babylonian Proverb.

To some men, good luck bespeaks but a chance happening that, like an accident, may befall one without purpose or reason. But it is very rare.

Good luck waits to come to that man who accepts opportunity.

To the building of an estate there must always be the beginning. That start may be a few pieces of gold or silver which a man diverts from his earnings to his first investment.

To take his first start to building an estate is as good luck as can come to any man. With all men, that first step, which changes them from men who earn from their own labor to men who draw dividends from the earnings of their gold, is important. Fortuntely, some take it when young and thereby outstrip in financial success those who do take it later or those unfortunate men who never take it.

Accept opportunity when she comes. Don’t wait.

Opportunity does not wait for anyone. If a man desires to be lucky, he will step quick.

Procrastinator - is what you call a man who puts off doing those things that mighty good for him. A habit of needless delaying where action was required, action prompt and decisive.

Procrastination proves to be an enemy, ever watching and waiting to thwart our accomplishments.

It is not difficult to conquer, once understood. No man willingly permits the thief to rob his bins of grain. Nor does any man willingly permit an enemy to drive away his customers and rob him of his profits. When once I recognized that such acts as these my enemy was committing, with determination I conquered him. So must every man master his own spirit of procrastination before he can expect to share in the rich treasures.

There is wisdom in making a payment immediately when we are convinced our bargain is wise. If the bargain is good, then you need protection against your own weaknesses as much as against any other man. We mortals are changeable. We are more apt to change our minds when we are right than wrong. Wrong, we are stubborn indeed. Right, we are prone to vacillate and let opportunity escape. Usually, our first judgment is our best. Yet I always have found it difficult to compel myself to proceed with a good bargain when made. Therefore, as a protection against my own weaknesses, I make a prompt deposit thereon. This saves me from later regrets for the good luck that should have been mine.

Opportunity flies away if we don’t act on it. Each time opportunity comes to a procrastinator - bringing a good plan, if they hesitate and says, “right now is not the best time”, the opportunity goes away.

The spirit of procrastination is within all men. We desire riches; yet, often, when opportunity does appear before us, that spirit of procrastination from within urges various delays in our acceptance. In listening to it we do become our own worst enemies.

Every man must master his own spirit of procrastination.

Opportunities came to all these men. Some grasp theirs and move steadily to the gratification of their deepest desires, but the majority hesitate, falter and fall behind.

Good luck is not something most desirable that might happen to a man without effort upon his part. Such happenings are not the sort of thing one may attract to himself. To attract good luck to oneself, it is necessary to take advantage of opportunities. Endeavor to make the best of such opportunities as do come to you.

Good luck often follows opportunity but seldom comes otherwise. Good luck can be enticed by accepting opportunity.

Those eager to grasp opportunities for their betterment, do attract the interest of the good goddess. She is ever anxious to aid those who please her. Men of action please her best.

Action will lead you forward to the successes that you desire.

Men of action are favored by the goddess of good luck.

Chapter 6. The Five Laws of Gold

A bag heavy with gold or a clay tablet carved with words of wisdom; if thou hadst thy choice, which wouldst thou choose?

Hear the wild dogs out there in the night. They howl and wail because they are lean with hunger. Yet feed them, and what do they? Fight and strut. Then fight and strut some more, giving no thought to the morrow that will surely come.

Just so it is with the sons of men. Give them a choice of gold and wisdom—what do they do? Ignore the wisdom and waste the gold. On the morrow they wail because they have no more gold.

Gold is reserved for those who know its laws and abide by them.

Arkad to his son:

My son, it is my desire that thou succeed to my estate. However, you must first prove that yor are capable of wisely handling it. Therefore, I wish that you go out into the world and show your ability both to acquire gold and to make yourself respected among men.

To start you well, I will give you two things of which I, myself, was denied when I started as a poor youth to build up a fortune.

First, I give you this bag of gold. If you use it wisely, it will be the basis of your future success.

Second, I give you this clay tablet upon which is carved the five laws of gold. If you interpret them in your own acts, they shall bring you competence and security.

Ten years from this day, you come back to the house of your father and give account of yourself. If you prove worthy, I will then make you the heir to my estate. Otherwise, I will give it to the priests.

When the goddess of good fortune smiles upon us, we should be guided by the wisdom of age and not by the inexperience of youth.

Wealth that comes quickly goes the same way. Wealth that stayeth to give enjoyment and satisfaction to its owner comes gradually, because it is a child born of knowledge and persistent purpose. To earn wealth is but a slight burden upon the thoughtful man. Bearing the burden consistently from year to year accomplishes the final purpose.

Our wise acts accompany us through life to please us and to help us. Just as surely, our unwise acts follow us to plague and torment us. They cannot be forgotten. In the front rank of the torments that do follow us are the memories of the things we should have done, of the opportunities which came to us and we took not.

The five laws of gold

1. Gold cometh gladly and in increasing quantity to any man who will put by not less than one-tenth of his earngs to create an estate for his future and that of his family.
2. Gold laboreth diligently and contentedly for the wise owner who finds for it profitable employment, multiplying even as the flocks of the field.
3. Gold clingeth to the protection of the cautious owner who invests it under the advice of men wise in its handling.
4. Gold slippeth away from the man who invests it in businesses or purposes with which he is not familiar or which are not approved by those skilled in its keep.
5. Gold flees the man who would force it to impossible earnings or who followeth the alluring advice of tricksters and schemers or who trusts it to his own inexperience and romantic desires in investment.

Chapter 7. The Gold Lender of Babylon

Gold brings to its possessor responsibility and a changed position with his fellow men. It brings fear that he lose it or it be tricked away from him. It brings a feeling of power and ability to do good. Likewise, it brings opportunities whereby his very good intentions may bring him into difficulties.

To borrowing and lending, there is more than the passing of gold from the hands of one to the hands of another.

If you desire to help your friend, do so in a way that will not bring your friend’s burdens upon thyself.

Did you ever hear of the farmer who could understand the language of animals? He lingered in the farm yard each evening just to listen to their words. One evening, he heard the ox bemoaning to the ass the hardness of his lot: ‘I do labor pulling the plow from morning until night. No matter how hot the day, or how tired my legs, or how the bow chafes my neck, still must I work. But you are a creature of leisure. You are trapped with a colorful blanket and do nothing more than carry our master about where he wishes to go. When he goes nowhere you do rest and eat the green grass all the day.’

Now the ass, in spite of his vicious heels, was a goodly fellow and sympathized with the ox.

‘My good friend’, he replied, ‘you do work very hard and I would help ease your lot. Therefore, will I tell you how you may have a day of rest. In the morning when the slave comes to fetch you to the plow, lie upon the ground and bellow much that he may say you are sick and cannot work.’

“So the ox took the advice of the ass and the next morning the slave returned to the farmer and told him the ox was sick and could not pull the plow.

” ‘Then,’ said the farmer, “hitch the ass to the plow for the plowing must go on.’

All that day the ass, who had only intended to help his friend, found himself compelled to do the ox’s task. When night came and he was released from the plow, his heart was bitter and his legs were weary and his neck was sore where the bow had chafed it.

The farmer lingered in the barnyard to listen.

The ox began first. ‘You are my good friend. Because of your wise advice I have enjoyed a day of rest.’

‘And I,’ retorted the ass, ‘am like many another simple-hearted one who starts to help a friend and ends up by doing his task for him. Hereafter you draw your own plow, for I did hear the master tell the slave to send for the butcher were you sick again. I wish he would, for you are a lazy fellow.’

Thereafter they spoke to each other no more - this ended their friendship.

Could a loan be well made if the borrower cannot repay? Must not the lender be wise and judge carefully whether his gold can perform a useful purpose to the borrower and return to him once more; or whether it will be wasted by one unable to use it wisely and leave him without his treasure, and leave the borrower with a debt he cannot repay?

The safest loans are to those whose possessions are of more value than the one they desire. They own lands, or jewels, or camels, or other things which could be sold to repay the loan. Some of the tokens given to me are jewels of more value than the loan. Others are promises that if the loan be not repaid as agreed, they will deliver to me certain property settlement. On loans like those, I am assured that my gold will be returned with the rental there on, for the loan is based on property.

In another class are those who have the capacity to earn. They are those who labor or serve and are paid. They have income and if they are honest and suffer no misfortune, they can repay the gold I loan them and the rental to which I am entitled. Such loans are based on human effort.

Others are those who have neither property nor assured earning capacity. Life is hard and there will always be some who cannot adjust themselves to it. For the loans I make them, even though they be no larger than a pence, my token box may censure me in the years to come unless they be guaranteed by good friends of the borrower who know him honorable.

Humans in the throes of great emotions are not safe risks for the gold lender.

Youth is ambitious. Youth would take short cuts to wealth and the desirable things for which it stands. To secure wealth quickly youth often borrows unwisely.

Youth, never having had experience, cannot realize that hopeless debt is like a deep pit into which one may descend quickly and where one may struggle vainly for many days. It is a pit of sorrow and regrets where the brightness of the sun is overcast and night is made unhappy by restless sleeping.

Gold is the merchandise of the lender of money. It is easy to lend. If it is lent unwisely then it is difficult to get back. The wise lender wishes not the risk of the undertaking but the guarantee of safe repayment.

It is well to assist those that are in trouble. It is well to help those upon whom fate has laid a heavy hand. It is well to help those who are starting, that they may progress and become valuable citizens. But help must be given wisely, lest, like the farmer’s ass, in our desire to help, we but take upon ourselves the burden that belongs to another.

I am a gold lender because I own more gold than I can use in my own trade. I desire my surplus gold to labor for others and thereby earn more gold. I do not wish to take risk of losing my gold for I have labored much and denied myself much to secure it. Therefore, I will no longer lend any of it where I am not confident that it is safe and will be returned to me. Neither will I lend it where I am not convinced that its earnings will be promptly paid to me.

Don’t be swayed by foolish sentiments of obligation to trust your treasure to any person. If you would help your family or your friends, find other ways than risking the loss of your treasure. Forget not that gold slips away in unexpected ways from those unskilled in guarding it. As well waste your treasure in extravagance as let others lose it for you.

Don’t be swayed by the fantastic plans of impractical men who think they see ways to force your gold to make earnings unusually large. Such plans are the creations of dreamers unskilled in the safe and dependable laws of trade. Be conservative in what you expect it to earn that you may keep and enjoy your treasure. To hire it out with a promise of usurious returns is to invite loss.

Many uses will tempt you. Much advice will be spoken to you. Numerous opportunities to make large profits will be offered you.

Better a little caution than a great regret.

Chapter 8. The Walls of Babylon

The walls of Babylon were an outstanding example of man’s need and desire for protection.

This desire is inherent in the human race. It is just as strong today as it ever was, but we have developed broader and better plans to accomplish the same purpose.

In this day, behind the impregnable walls of insurance, savings accounts and dependable investments, we can guard ourselves against the unexpected tragedies that may enter any door and seat themselves before any fireside.

We cannot afford to be without adequate protection.

Chapter 9. The Camel Trader of Babylon

The hungrier one becomes, the clearer one’s mind works— also the more sensitive one becomes to the odors of food.

Ill fortune! Would you blame the gods for thine own weakness? Ill fortune pursues every man who thinks more of borrowing than of repaying.

He who spends more than he earns is sowing the winds of needless self-indulgence from which he is sure to reap the whirlwinds of trouble and humiliation.

Sira, the first wife of the camel trader:

How can you call yourself a free man when your weakness has brought you to this? If a man has in himself the soul of a slave will he not become one no matter what his birth, even as water seeks its level? If a man has within him the soul of a free man, will he not become respected and honored in his own city in spite of his misfortune?

If thou contentedly let the years slip by and make no effort to repay, then thou hast but the contemptible soul of a slave. No man is otherwise who cannot respect himself and no man can respect himself who does not repay honest debts.

Thy debts are thy enemies. They ran thee out of Babylon. You left them alone and they grew too strong for thee. Hadst fought them as a man, thou couldst have conquered them and been one honored among the townspeople. But thou had not the soul to fight them and behold thy pride hast gone down until hou art a slave in Syria.

My debts were my enemies, but the men I owed were my friends for they had trusted me and believed in me.

Within me surged the soul of a free man going back to conquer his enemies and reward his friends.

The soul of a free man looks at life as a series of problems to be solved and solves them, while the soul of a slave whines, ‘What can I do who am but a slave?’

He found his own soul when he realized a great truth, a truth that had been known and used by wise men long before his time.

It has led men of all ages out of difficulties and into success and it will continue to do so for those who have the wisdom to understand its magic power. It is for any man to use who reads these lines.

Where the determination is, the way can be found.

Chapter 10. The Clay Tablets From Babylon

Tablet No. I

An exact plan that he doth say will lead any honorable man out of debt into means and self respect.

This plan includeth three purposes which are my hope and desire.

1. First, the plan doth provide for my future prosperity. Therefore one-tenth of all I earn shall be set aside as my own to keep.

“That man who keepeth in his purse both gold and silver that he need not spend is good to his family and loyal to his king.

“The man who hath but a few coppers in his purse is indifferent to his family and indifferent to his king.

“But the man who hath naught in his purse is unkind to his family and is disloyal to his king, for his own heart is bitter.

“Therefore, the man who wisheth to achieve must have coin that he may keep to jingle in his purse, that he have in his heart love for his family and loyalty to his king.”

Second, the plan doth provide that I shall support and clothe my good wife who hath returned

to me with loyalty from the house of her father. For Mathon doth say that to take good care of a faithful wife putteth self-respect into the heart of a man and addeth strength and determination to his purposes.

Therefore seven-tenths of all I earn shall be used to provide a home, clothes to wear, and food to eat, with a bit extra to spend, that our lives be not lacking in pleasure and enjoyment. But he doth further enjoin the greatest care that we spend not greater than seven-tenths of what I earn for these worthy purposes. Herein lieth the success of the plan.

I must live upon this portion and never use more nor buy what I may not pay for out of this portion.

Tablet No. II

Third, the plan doth provide that out of my earnings my debts shall be paid.

Therefore each time the moon is full, two-tenths of all I have earned shall be divided honorably and fairly among those who have trusted me and to whom I am indebted. Thus in due time will all my indebtedness be surely paid. Therefore, do I here engrave the name of every man to whom I am indebted and the honest amount of my debt.

Tablet No. III

Therefore have I visited my creditors and explained to them that I have no resources with which to pay except my ability to earn, and that I intent to apply two tenths of all I earn upon my indebtedness evenly and honestly. This much can I pay but no more. Therefore if they be patient, in time my obligations will be paid in full.

Being convinced that it is easier to pay one’s just debts than to avoid them. Even though I cannot meet the needs and demands of a few of my creditors I will deal impartially with all.

Tablet No. IV

Great is the plan for it leadeth us out of debt and giveth us wealth which is ours to keep.

Who would believe there could be such a difference in results between following a financial plan and just drifting along.

We are determined never again to permit our living expenses to exceed seventy percent of our income.

The strategy: Spend 70% of the income, using 10% for investment and using 20% to pay debts.

Chapter 11. The Luckiest Man in Babylon

The chapter highlights the importance of hard work in a man’s life. It shows that hard work is a man’s best friend and that one would do well to work hard - whether he is a slave or a master. It gives example (in the form of a fable) scenarios in which hard work pulls the hero in the story out of dire straights multiple times in his life.

Question from young Hadan Gula (who has nothing - because his father wasted his inheritance from his grandfather) to Sharru Nada, the merchant prince of Babylon (an old and rich guy.. taking care of young Hadan Gula, out of respect for the young one’s grandfather - who was a friend to Sharru Nada):

Why dost thou work so hard, riding always with thy caravan upon its long journeys? Dost thou never take time to enjoy life?

If I had wealth equal to thine, I would live like a prince. Never across the hot desert would I ride. I would spend the shekels as fast as they came to my purse. I would wear the richest of robes and the rarest of jewels. That would be a life to my liking, a life worth living.

Work was made for slaves.

Sharru Nada’s answer to the young kid:

Thy grandfather wore no jewels.

Work he could offer in plenty to willing workers, but naught for men who considered themselves too good for work.

It doesn’t make sense to me to talk of masters beating willing, hardworking slaves to death. Masters like good slaves and treat them well.

Those plowers are wise fellows. They’re not breaking their backs. Just letting on as if they be.

Thou can’t get ahead by shirking,’ Megiddo protested. If thou plow a hectare, that’s a good day’s work and any master knows it. But when thou plow only a half, that’s shirking. I don’t shirk. I like to work and I like to do good work, for work is the best friend I’ve ever known. It has brought me all the good things I’ve had, my farm and cows and crops, everything.

how valuable work would be to me in the future: ‘Some men hate it. They make it their enemy. Better to treat it like a friend, make thyself like it. Don’t mind because it is hard. If thou thinkest about what a good house thou build, then who cares if the beams are heavy and it is far from the well to carry the water for the plaster. Promise me, boy, if thou get a master, work for him as hard as thou canst. If he does not appreciate all thou do, never mind. Remember, work, well-done, does good to the man who does it. It makes him a better man.

No work to do is bad for any man.

Decide what thou desirest to accomplish and then work will aid thee to achieve it!

His hands were deeply calloused from hard work but his heart was light and there was happiness on his face.

Work attracted his many friends who admired his industry and the success it brought. Work brought him the honors he enjoyed so much in Damascus. Work brought him all those things I have approved. And I thought work was fit only for slaves.

Life is rich with many pleasures for men to enjoy. Each has its place. I am glad that work is not reserved for slaves. Were that the case I would be deprived of my greatest pleasure. I do enjoy many things but nothing takes the place of work.