51ºÚÁÏ

words 141-150

A lot of arbitrary bad comments have been made of the early monks.
It’s time to elucidate their ideas.
The founder of the movement was a former member of the Roman hierarchy.
He advocated complete frugality; with the assertion that greed and
money should be disparaged as a source of evil and corruption.
To quell it you must throw it off.
In this, he was a precursor of later philosophers and thinkers.

PARAPHRASE:

A lot of cheap shots have been made of the early monks.
It’s time to shed light their ideas.
The establisher of the movement was a former member of the Roman elite.
He called for complete poverty; with the claim that greed and
money should be condemned as a source of evil and corruption.
To overthrow it you must throw it off.
In this, he was a forerunner of later philosophers and thinkers.

AI PARAPHRASE:

People have said a lot of unfair and mean things about the early monks. But now it’s time to explain what they really believed. The person who started the group used to be part of the Roman government. He believed in living very simply and said that wanting too much money was bad. He thought greed and riches caused people to do wrong things. To stop this, you had to let go of money and not care about it. Because of these ideas, he helped inspire other smart people who came later.