John Trapp on Nehemiah 5:4

Verſe 4. There were alſo that ſaid] Here was a third complaint to good Nehemiah; to whom whoſoever lamented were ſure to have redreſſe and remedy. He did not ſerve theſe poor people, as that mercileſſe Biſhop of Mentz in Germany did; who, to rid his hands of them in a time of famine, in horreo concluſos juſſit concremari, ſhut them up altogether in a barn, Hatto Archiep. Mogunt. Anno 923. and there burnt them: He was afterwards eaten to death by Rats, non ſine maxima divinae vindictae ſuſpicione, ſaith mine Author, by a juſt hand of God upon him for his cruelty to thoſe poor, whom he would not relieve with his corn, but let the Rats eat it; and of whom he ſaid when they were burning in his barn, that they cryed like a company of Rats.

We have borrowed money for the Kings tribute] They did not deny payment, and riſe up in armes, Speed. 1012. making Poverty their Captain, as the Suffolk-men did here in Henry the eighths time: Neither did they anſwer the King of Perſia's officers, as the men of Andros once did Themiſtocles. He, being ſent by the Athenians to them for tribute, told them that he came unto them on that errand, accompanied with two goddeſſes, Eloquence to perſwade,Plutarch. and Violence to enforce them. Their anſwer was, that they alſo had on their ſide two goddeſſes as ſtrong; Neceſſity (for they had it not) and Impoſſibility, for they knew not how to raiſe it. Theſe men pawn their lands to pay tribute: but it went to their hearts, and cauſed this complaint.