431. The state of beggars in the other life

The fantasy of those who had been begging for a long time and finally had come to take pleasure in it, and thus because of their idle life and aversion for working to procure food and like necessaries, is that they appear naked except for filthy shreds as clothing. They seem to themselves to be in a mass, so bunched together that they cannot be distinguished one from another. Having one with a cup, they beg for alms, and wherever they encounter people they beg.

I heard from them that what is said about beggars is true, that they want nothing but money, despise clothing and food, live wickedly amongst themselves, quarreling, and so forth; that they hate work, sometimes living voluptuously in all luxury, squandering money, harshly demanding to know what each one has gotten; that they had set up a sort of government among themselves, and want this to be a secret. 1747, 30 December. Note that the beggars [spoken of] here are such as had been beggars in their lives. So it is their existence, because they had had no other ambition.