47 pages • 1 hour read
George Samuel ClasonThe Richest Man in Babylon
Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 1926A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
Youthful Inexperience in Finance
Throughout Clason’s work, he presents his younger characters as naïve or reckless with their finances and emphasizes how important it is to develop good financial habits when young. Whether writing about lower- or upper-class characters, Clason presents these young men as work-shy and unknowledgeable about the basics of managing money. Indeed, most of his characters’ experiences of poverty and distress begin with youthful financial mistakes, such as borrowing too much money from creditors, gambling away their savings, or making unwise investments. For example, Dabasir is plunged into poverty and then enslavement when, as a young man, he borrows far too much money and flees the city to escape his angry creditors. Similarly, Arkad’s son, Nomasir, quickly spends his father’s gold on unreliable business investments in his effort to get rich quickly and easily. Meanwhile, poor Tarkad subsists on small loans, which he quickly spends on food, and lives in fear of his creditors, with no long-term plan to become financially stable.
Clason’s savvy character Mathon, a moneylender, characterizes youths as being overly “ambitious” with money and prone to making significant mistakes (60). He blames young people’s poor decision-making on inexperience, arguing that they do not understand the severity of the consequences they could face:
Youth would take short-cuts to wealth and the desirable thing for which it stands. To secure wealth quickly, youth often borrow 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. (60)
Similarly, when Dabasir reflects on his reckless overspending he admits, “Being young and without experience I did not know that 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” (69).
These examples of youthful mistakes help Clason underscore the importance of his financial advice. He claims that the antidote to young people’s money trouble is to carefully follow the habits of their more experienced elders. He warns the reader to not dismiss their advice as irrelevant, as Algamish tells Arkad: “And when youth comes to age for advice he receives the wisdom of years. But too often does youth think that age only knows the wisdom of days that are gone, and therefore profits not” (13). Clason compares youthful enthusiasm to “the bright lights that shine forth like meteors” while “the wisdom of age is like the fixed stars that shine so unchanged that the sailor may depend upon them to steer his course” (13).
Work Ethic, Discipline and Success
Throughout Clason’s work, he emphasizes the importance of having a good work ethic. The author uses several examples to persuade the reader that consistent work is the first step to financial success and that accumulating wealth is not possible without it. For example, successful characters like Dabasir, Algamish, Arkad, and Sharru all dedicate themselves to their work and maximize their earnings. Clason advises the reader that it is important to develop a good understanding of your profession and build your skills in order to earn more. For example, as Arkad reflects on his time as a clay tablet scribe, he remembers comparing his work to his colleagues’ who earned more than him. He realized that he had to put in more effort to perfect his work, and by becoming more precise and efficient, he quickly increased his earnings. This leads Arkad to conclude that “The more wisdom we know, the more we may earn. That man who seeks to learn more of his craft shall be richly rewarded” (35).
Clason also advises that the reader develop a good relationship with work and try to adopt a positive mindset about it. Since hard work is an unavoidable aspect of building wealth, Clason uses his characters Megiddo and Sharru to argue that people should see work as their “friend” rather than an “enemy” (86-87). Clason implies that this same kind of mental discipline is required to develop healthy financial habits, as he makes it clear that hard work alone is not enough to become successful. In his first parable Kobbi and Bansir complain that they are “Working, working, working! Getting nowhere” (9). By asking Arkad for advice, they learn that their strong work ethic is very helpful, but that they also have to build the mental discipline required to resist spending on indulgences and save money each month instead. In “Seven Cures for a Lean Purse,” Arkad tells his students that they must learn to resist the urge to spend money on unnecessary things. He explains that they should deny themselves these things and “consider them but a part of that great multitude of desires that must go unsatisfied and regret them not” (24).
Clason sharply contrasts a consistent work ethic and mental discipline with a desire to quickly and easily become wealthy. While get-rich-quick investment schemes, gaming and gambling are always tempting, Clason warns the reader from becoming enticed by these unrealistic pursuits, which often lead to losses. Arkad advises his students that they are more likely to find good luck by applying themselves to their everyday jobs: “In tilling the soil, in honest trading, in all of man’s occupations, there is opportunity to make a profit upon his efforts and his transactions” (39). By portraying his most successful characters as hardworking and disciplined, Clason encourages the reader to make a strong connection between their consistent efforts and their accumulated wealth and apply the same mindset to their own financial agenda.
Personal Finances and Obligations
Throughout Clason’s work, he emphasizes the importance of using his personal financial plan to fulfill your obligations to yourself and others. This argument adds nuance and a moral undertone to Clason’s broader message that wealth is attainable for everyone and is sure to improve one’s life. Clason coaches the reader to prioritize themselves on their list of obligations by always saving 10% of their income. In “The Richest Man in Babylon,” Algamish tells Arkad “A part of all you earn is yours to keep…Pay yourself first” (14). Clason also repeatedly mentions men’s responsibility to provide a home and necessities for their families. Even though he is in debt, Dabasir spends 70% of his income on himself and his wife since his financial plan dictates that he “shall support and clothe my good wife” and to make sure “that our lives be not lacking in pleasure and enjoyment” (76).
While Clason does not make any specific arguments about respectable or ethical means of obtaining wealth, he does impress upon the reader how important it is to maintain an “honorable” reputation by paying back your creditors (76). According to Clason, people in debt, such as his character Dabasir, should always set aside a part of their monthly income to pay off their loans as quickly as possible. Using his money lender character Mathon, Clason recommends that indebted people dedicate 20% of their income to paying back creditors “evenly and honestly” (77). The author argues that if people like Dabasir do not fulfill these financial obligations they will not be able to respect themselves or be respected by others. Dabasir confesses that only after he paid off his debts, he felt that he “could hold up my head and feel that I was an honorable man among men” (73). By promising to transform any “honorable man out of debt into means and self respect” (76), Clason adds a more moralizing tone to his otherwise morally neutral work.
Finally, Clason tackles the issue of obligation to family members and friends. In “The Gold Lender of Babylon,” the wise money lender Mathon tells Rodan to not feel pressured into giving up his money to family members. Mathon says that Rodan’s gold “is thine own and no man can put an obligation upon thee to part with it unless it do be thy wish” (61). While Mathon acknowledges that it is an act of kindness to help people who need it, he argues that it is pointless to lend money to people who will never be able to pay it back and warns that if Rodan loses his money it would be a “constant sorrow and regret” (62). If one’s family members are not responsible with money, then Mathon warns Rodan (and the reader) against being “swayed by foolish sentiments of obligation” (62). With these suggestions, Clason tries to balance generosity and financial stability, but clearly favors the latter.
