ose in his commentary on Luke 16:9, "Make unto
yourselves friends," etc., "He calls mammon unjust, because it draws
our affections by the various allurements of wealth." Or, because
"among the many ancestors whose property you inherit, there is one
who took the property of others unjustly, although you know nothing
about it," as Basil says in a homily (Hom. super Luc. A, 5). Or, all
riches are styled riches "of iniquity," i.e., of "inequality,"
because they are not distributed equally among all, one being in
need, and another in affluence.

Reply Obj. 2: We have already explained how alms may be given out of
the profits of whoredom. Yet sacrifices and oblations were not made
therefrom at the altar, both on account of the scandal, and through
reverence for sacred things. It is also lawful to give alms out of
the profits of simony, because they are not due to him who paid,
indeed he deserves to lose them. But as to the profits from games of
chance, there would seem to be something unlawful as being contrary
to the Divine Law, when a man wins from one who cannot alienate his
property, such as minors, lunatics and so forth, or when a man, with
the desire of making money out of another man, entices him to play,
and wins from him by cheating. In these cases he is bound to
restitution, and consequently cannot give away his gains in alms.
Then again there would seem to be something unlawful as being against
the positive civil law, which altogether forbids any such profits.
Since, however, a civil law does not bind all, but only those who are
subject to that law, and moreover may be abrogated through desuetude,
it follows that all such as are bound by these laws are bound to make
restitution of such gains, unless perchance the contrary custom
prevail, or unless a man win from one who enticed him to play, in
which case he is not bound to restitution, because the loser does not
deserve to be paid back: and yet he cannot lawfully keep what he has
won, so long as that positive law is in force, wherefore in this case
he ought to give it away in alms.

Reply Obj. 3: All things are common property in a case of extreme
necessity. Hence one who is in such dire straits may take another's
goods in order to succor himself, if he can find no one who is
willing to give him something. For the same reason a man may retain
what belongs to another, and give alms thereof; or even take
something if there be no other way of succoring the one who i