Canon IV.
Let no one deceive himself, nor put forward the
pretext of having found such property. For it is not lawful, even
for a man who has found anything, to aggrandize himself by it.
For Deuteronomy says: “Thou shalt not see thy
brother’s ox or his sheep go astray in the way, and pay no heed
to them; but thou shalt in any wise bring them again unto thy
brother. And if thy brother come not nigh thee, or if thou know
him not, then thou shalt bring them together, and they shall be with
thee until thy brother seek after them, and thou shalt restore them to
him again. And in like manner shalt thou do with his ass, and so
shalt thou do with his raiment, and so shalt thou do with all lost
things of thy brother’s, which he hath lost, and thou mayest
find.”130
Thus much in
Deuteronomy. And in the book of Exodus it is said, with reference
not only to the case of finding what is a
friend’s, but also of
finding what is an
enemy’s: “Thou shalt surely bring
them back to the
house of their master again.”
131
And if it is not
lawful to aggrandize
oneself at the expense of another, whether he be
brother or enemy, even
in the time of peace, when he is living at his ease and delicately, and
without concern as to his property, how much more must it be the case
when one is met by adversity, and is fleeing from his enemies, and has
had to abandon his possessions by force of
circumstances!
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