Mammon
a Syriac word used in the New Testament as the personification of worldliness. In Syrian mythology, Mammon was the god of wealth, corresponding with the Greek Pluto. The word has thus come into common use to designate the personification of avarice. The name is of frequent occurrence in literature. In Ben Johnson's Alchemist, Sir Epicure Mammon is a worldly sensualist who finally overreaches himself and defeats his own ends. In Spenser's Faerie Queene, Mammon is the money god whose cave is visited by Sir Guyon, whom Mammon tempts unsuccessfully with all forms of wealth and pleasure. Milton gives the name of Mammon to a fallen angel of sordid character.
Thither, winged with speed,
A numerous brigade hastened: as when bands Of pioneers, with spade and pickaxe armed,
Forerun the royal camp to trench a field
Or cast a rampart. Mammon led them on--Mammon, the least erected Spirit that fell From Heaven; for even in Heaven his looks and thoughts
Were always downward bent, admiring more
The riches of Heaven's pavement (trodden gold)
Than aught divine or holy else enjoyed
In vision beatific: by him first
Men also, and by his suggestion taught.
Ransacked the Center and with impious hands
Rifled the bowels of their mother earth
For treasures better hid. Soon had his crew
Opened into the hill a spacious wound,
And digged out ribs of gold. (Let none admire
That riches grow in Hell--that soil may best
Deserve the precious bane!)
A numerous brigade hastened: as when bands Of pioneers, with spade and pickaxe armed,
Forerun the royal camp to trench a field
Or cast a rampart. Mammon led them on--Mammon, the least erected Spirit that fell From Heaven; for even in Heaven his looks and thoughts
Were always downward bent, admiring more
The riches of Heaven's pavement (trodden gold)
Than aught divine or holy else enjoyed
In vision beatific: by him first
Men also, and by his suggestion taught.
Ransacked the Center and with impious hands
Rifled the bowels of their mother earth
For treasures better hid. Soon had his crew
Opened into the hill a spacious wound,
And digged out ribs of gold. (Let none admire
That riches grow in Hell--that soil may best
Deserve the precious bane!)
Volume III · Aiton’s Encyclopedia