29 Cf. Diogenes Laertius, Bk. x., ch. xxvii., pp. 127 and 149; also Cicero de finibus, i., 13.]
It is difficult, if not impossible, to define the limits which reason should impose on the desire for wealth; for there is no absolute or definite amount of wealth which will satisfy a man. The amount is always relative, that is to say, just so much as will maintain the proportion between what he wants and what he gets; for to measure a man’s happiness only by what he gets, and not also by what he expects to get, is as futile6 as to try and express a fraction which shall have a numerator but no denominator. A man never feels the loss of things which it never occurs to him to ask for; he is just as happy without them; whilst another, who may have a hundred times as much, feels miserable7 because he has not got the one thing he wants. In fact, here too, every man has an horizon of his own, and he will expect as much as he thinks it is possible for him to get. If an object within his horizon looks as though he could confidently reckon on getting it, he is happy; but if difficulties come in the way, he is miserable. What lies beyond his horizon has no effect at all upon him. So it is that the vast possessions of the rich do not agitate8 the poor, and conversely, that a wealthy man is not consoled by all his wealth for the failure of his hopes. Riches, one may say, are like sea-water; the more you drink the thirstier you become; and the same is true of fame. The loss of wealth and prosperity leaves a man, as soon as the first pangs10 of grief are over, in very much the same habitual11 temper as before; and the reason of this is, that as soon as fate diminishes the amount of his possessions, he himself immediately reduces the amount of his claims. But when misfortune comes upon us, to reduce the amount of our claims is just what is most painful; once that we have done so, the pain becomes less and less, and is felt no more; like an old wound which has healed. Conversely, when a piece of good fortune befalls us, our claims mount higher and higher, as there is nothing to regulate them; it is in this feeling of expansion that the delight of it lies. But it lasts no longer than the process itself, and when the expansion is complete, the delight ceases; we have become accustomed to the increase in our claims, and consequently indifferent to the amount of wealth which satisfies them. There is a passage in the Odyssey30 illustrating13 this truth, of which I may quote the last two lines:
[Greek: Toios gar noos estin epichthonion anthropon
Oion eth aemar agei pataer andron te theou te]
— the thoughts of man that dwells on the earth are as the day granted him by the father of gods and men. Discontent springs from a constant endeavor to increase the amount of our claims, when we are powerless to increase the amount which will satisfy them.
30 xviii., 130-7.]
When we consider how full of needs the human race is, how its whole existence is based upon them, it is not a matter for surprise that wealth is held in more sincere esteem14, nay15, in greater honor, than anything else in the world; nor ought we to wonder that gain is made the only good of life, and everything that does not lead to it pushed aside or thrown overboard — philosophy, for instance, by those who profess1 it. People are often reproached for wishing for money above all things, and for loving it more than anything else; but it is natural and even inevitable16 for people to love that which, like an unwearied Proteus, is always ready to turn itself into whatever object their wandering wishes or manifold desires may for the moment fix upon. Everything else can satisfy only one wish, one need: food is good only if you are hungry; wine, if you are able to enjoy it; drugs, if you are sick; fur for the winter; love for youth, and so on. These are all only relatively17 good, [Greek: agatha pros9 ti]. Money alone is absolutely good, because it is not only a concrete satisfaction of one need in particular; it is an abstract satisfaction of all.
If a man has an independent fortune, he should regard it as a bulwark18 against the many evils and misfortunes which he may encounter; he should not look upon it as giving him leave to get what pleasure he can out of the world, or as rendering19 it incumbent20 upon him to spend it in this way. People who are not born with a fortune, but end by making a large one through the exercise of whatever talents they possess, almost always come to think that their talents are their capital, and that the money they have gained is merely the interest upon it; they do not lay by a part of their earnings22 to form a permanent capital, but spend their money much as they have earned it. Accordingly, they often fall into poverty; their earnings decreased, or come to an end altogether, either because their talent is exhausted23 by becoming antiquated24 — as, for instance, very often happens in the case of fine art; or else it was valid25 only under a special conjunction of circumstances which has now passed away. There is nothing to prevent those who live on the common labor26 of their hands from treating their earnings in that way if they like; because their kind of skill is not likely to disappear, or, if it does, it can be replaced by that of their fellow-workmen; morever, the kind of work they do is always in demand; so that what the proverb says is quite true, a useful trade is a mine of gold. But with artists and professionals of every kind the case is quite different, and that is the reason why they are well paid. They ought to build up a capital out of their earnings; but they recklessly look upon them as merely interest, and end in ruin. On the other hand, people who inherit money know, at least, how to distinguish between capital and interest, and most of them try to make their capital secure and not encroach upon it; nay, if they can, they put by at least an eighth of their interests in order to meet future contingencies27. So most of them maintain their position. These few remarks about capital and interest are not applicable to commercial life, for merchants look upon money only as a means of further gain, just as a workman regards his tools; so even if their capital has been entirely28 the result of their own efforts, they try to preserve and increase it by using it. Accordingly, wealth is nowhere so much at home as in the merchant class.
It will generally be found that those who know what it is to have been in need and destitution29 are very much less afraid of it, and consequently more inclined to extravagance, than those who know poverty only by hearsay30. People who have been born and bred in good circumstances are as a rule much more careful about the future, more economical, in fact, than those who, by a piece of good luck, have suddenly passed from poverty to wealth. This looks as if poverty were not really such a very wretched thing as it appears from a distance. The true reason, however, is rather the fact that the man who has been born into a position of wealth comes to look upon it as something without which he could no more live than he could live without air; he guards it as he does his very life; and so he is generally a lover of order, prudent31 and economical. But the man who has been born into a poor position looks upon it as the natural one, and if by any chance he comes in for a fortune, he regards it as a superfluity, something to be enjoyed or wasted, because, if it comes to an end, he can get on just as well as before, with one anxiety the less; or, as Shakespeare says in Henry VI.,31
. . . . the adage32 must be verified
That beggars mounted run their horse to death.
31 Part III., Act 1., Sc. 4.]
But it should be said that people of this kind have a firm and excessive trust, partly in fate, partly in the peculiar33 means which have already raised them out of need and poverty — a trust not only of the head, but of the heart also; and so they do not, like the man born rich, look upon the shallows of poverty as bottomless, but console themselves with the thought that once they have touched ground again, they can take another upward flight. It is this trait in human character which explains the fact that women who were poor before their marriage often make greater claims, and are more extravagant34, than those who have brought their husbands a rich dowry; because, as a rule, rich girls bring with them, not only a fortune, but also more eagerness, nay, more of the inherited instinct, to preserve it, than poor girls do. If anyone doubts the truth of this, and thinks that it is just the opposite, he will find authority for his view in Ariosto’s first Satire35; but, on the other hand, Dr. Johnson agrees with my opinion. A woman of fortune, he says, being used to the handling of money, spends it judiciously36; but a woman who gets the command of money for the first time upon her marriage, has such a gusto in spending it, that she throws it away with great profusion37.32 And in any case let me advise anyone who marries a poor girl not to leave her the capital but only the interest, and to take especial care that she has not the management of the children’s fortune.
32 Boswell’s Life of Johnson: ann: 1776, aetat: 67.]
I do not by any means think that I am touching38 upon a subject which is not worth my while to mention when I recommend people to be careful to preserve what they have earned or inherited. For to start life with just as much as will make one independent, that is, allow one to live comfortably without having to work — even if one has only just enough for oneself, not to speak of a family — is an advantage which cannot be over-estimated; for it means exemption39 and immunity40 from that chronic41 disease of penury42, which fastens on the life of man like a plague; it is emancipation43 from that forced labor which is the natural lot of every mortal. Only under a favorable fate like this can a man be said to be born free, to be, in the proper sense of the word, sui juris, master of his own time and powers, and able to say every morning, This day is my own. And just for the same reason the difference between the man who has a hundred a year and the man who has a thousand, is infinitely44 smaller than the difference between the former and a man who has nothing at all. But inherited wealth reaches its utmost value when it falls to the individual endowed with mental powers of a high order, who is resolved to pursue a line of life not compatible with the making of money; for he is then doubly endowed by fate and can live for his genius; and he will pay his debt to mankind a hundred times, by achieving what no other could achieve, by producing some work which contributes to the general good, and redounds45 to the honor of humanity at large. Another, again, may use his wealth to further philanthropic schemes, and make himself well-deserving of his fellowmen. But a man who does none of these things, who does not even try to do them, who never attempts to learn the rudiments47 of any branch of knowledge so that he may at least do what he can towards promoting it — such a one, born as he is into riches, is a mere21 idler and thief of time, a contemptible48 fellow. He will not even be happy, because, in his case, exemption from need delivers him up to the other extreme of human suffering, boredom49, which is such martyrdom to him, that he would have been better off if poverty had given him something to do. And as he is bored he is apt to be extravagant, and so lose the advantage of which he showed himself unworthy. Countless50 numbers of people find themselves in want, simply because, when they had money, they spent it only to get momentary51 relief from the feeling of boredom which oppressed them.
It is quite another matter if one’s object is success in political life, where favor, friends and connections are all-important, in order to mount by their aid step by step on the ladder of promotion52, and perhaps gain the topmost rung. In this kind of life, it is much better to be cast upon the world without a penny; and if the aspirant53 is not of noble family, but is a man of some talent, it will redound46 to his advantage to be an absolute pauper54. For what every one most aims at in ordinary contact with his fellows is to prove them inferior to himself; and how much more is this the case in politics. Now, it is only an absolute pauper who has such a thorough conviction of his own complete, profound and positive inferiority from every point of view, of his own utter insignificance55 and worthlessness, that he can take his place quietly in the political machine.33 He is the only one who can keep on bowing low enough, and even go right down upon his face if necessary; he alone can submit to everything and laugh at it; he alone knows the entire worthlessness of merit; he alone uses his loudest voice and his boldest type whenever he has to speak or write of those who are placed over his head, or occupy any position of influence; and if they do a little scribbling56, he is ready to applaud it as a masterwork. He alone understands how to beg, and so betimes, when he is hardly out of his boyhood, he becomes a high priest of that hidden mystery which Goethe brings to light.
Uber’s Niedertr?chtige
Niemand sich beklage:
Denn es ist das Machtige
Was man dir auch sage12:
— it is no use to complain of low aims; for, whatever people may say, they rule the world.
33 Translator’s Note. — Schopenhauer is probably here making one of his most virulent57 attacks upon Hegel; in this case on account of what he thought to be the philosopher’s abject58 servility to the government of his day. Though the Hegelian system has been the fruitful mother of many liberal ideas, there can be no doubt that Hegel’s influence, in his own lifetime, was an effective support of Prussian bureaucracy.]
On the other hand, the man who is born with enough to live upon is generally of a somewhat independent turn of mind; he is accustomed to keep his head up; he has not learned all the arts of the beggar; perhaps he even presumes a little upon the possession of talents which, as he ought to know, can never compete with cringing59 mediocrity; in the long run he comes to recognize the inferiority of those who are placed over his head, and when they try to put insults upon him, he becomes refractory60 and shy. This is not the way to get on in the world. Nay, such a man may at least incline to the opinion freely expressed by Voltaire: We have only two days to live; it is not worth our while to spend them in cringing to contemptible rascals61. But alas63! let me observe by the way, that contemptible rascal62 is an attribute which may be predicated of an abominable64 number of people. What Juvenal says — it is difficult to rise if your poverty is greater than your talent —
Haud facile emergunt quorum65 virtutibus obstat
Res angusta domi —
is more applicable to a career of art and literature than to a political and social ambition.
Wife and children I have not reckoned amongst a man’s possessions: he is rather in their possession. It would be easier to include friends under that head; but a man’s friends belong to him not a whit66 more than he belongs to them.
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1
profess
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| v.声称，冒称，以...为业，正式接受入教，表明信仰 | |
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secondly
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| adv.第二，其次 | |
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doctrine
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| n.教义；主义；学说 | |
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prodigality
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| n.浪费，挥霍 | |
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splendor
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| n.光彩；壮丽，华丽；显赫，辉煌 | |
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futile
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| adj.无效的，无用的，无希望的 | |
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miserable
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| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
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agitate
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| vi.(for,against)煽动，鼓动；vt.搅动 | |
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pros
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| abbr.prosecuting 起诉；prosecutor 起诉人；professionals 自由职业者；proscenium （舞台）前部n.赞成的意见( pro的名词复数 )；赞成的理由；抵偿物；交换物 | |
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pangs
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| 突然的剧痛( pang的名词复数 )； 悲痛 | |
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habitual
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| adj.习惯性的；通常的，惯常的 | |
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sage
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| n.圣人，哲人；adj.贤明的，明智的 | |
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13
illustrating
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| 给…加插图( illustrate的现在分词 )； 说明； 表明； （用示例、图画等）说明 | |
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14
esteem
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| n.尊敬，尊重；vt.尊重，敬重；把…看作 | |
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15
nay
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| adv.不；n.反对票，投反对票者 | |
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16
inevitable
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| adj.不可避免的，必然发生的 | |
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relatively
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| adv.比较...地，相对地 | |
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bulwark
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| n.堡垒，保障，防御 | |
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rendering
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| n.表现，描写 | |
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incumbent
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| adj.成为责任的，有义务的；现任的，在职的 | |
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21
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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earnings
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| n.工资收人；利润，利益，所得 | |
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exhausted
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| adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的 | |
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antiquated
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| adj.陈旧的，过时的 | |
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25
valid
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| adj.有确实根据的；有效的；正当的，合法的 | |
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labor
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| n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦 | |
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27
contingencies
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| n.偶然发生的事故，意外事故( contingency的名词复数 )；以备万一 | |
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28
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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29
destitution
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| n.穷困，缺乏，贫穷 | |
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30
hearsay
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| n.谣传，风闻 | |
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31
prudent
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| adj.谨慎的，有远见的，精打细算的 | |
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32
adage
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| n.格言，古训 | |
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33
peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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34
extravagant
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| adj.奢侈的；过分的；(言行等)放肆的 | |
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35
satire
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| n.讽刺，讽刺文学，讽刺作品 | |
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36
judiciously
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| adv.明断地，明智而审慎地 | |
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37
profusion
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| n.挥霍；丰富 | |
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38
touching
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| adj.动人的，使人感伤的 | |
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39
exemption
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| n.豁免，免税额，免除 | |
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40
immunity
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| n.优惠；免除；豁免，豁免权 | |
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41
chronic
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| adj.(疾病)长期未愈的，慢性的；极坏的 | |
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42
penury
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| n.贫穷，拮据 | |
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43
emancipation
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| n.（从束缚、支配下）解放 | |
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44
infinitely
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| adv.无限地，无穷地 | |
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45
redounds
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| v.有助益( redound的第三人称单数 )；及于；报偿；报应 | |
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46
redound
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| v.有助于；提；报应 | |
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47
rudiments
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| n.基础知识，入门 | |
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48
contemptible
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| adj.可鄙的，可轻视的，卑劣的 | |
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49
boredom
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| n.厌烦，厌倦，乏味，无聊 | |
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50
countless
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| adj.无数的，多得不计其数的 | |
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51
momentary
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| adj.片刻的，瞬息的；短暂的 | |
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52
promotion
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| n.提升，晋级；促销，宣传 | |
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53
aspirant
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| n.热望者；adj.渴望的 | |
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54
pauper
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| n.贫民，被救济者，穷人 | |
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55
insignificance
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| n.不重要；无价值；无意义 | |
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56
scribbling
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| n.乱涂[写]胡[乱]写的文章[作品]v.潦草的书写( scribble的现在分词 )；乱画；草草地写；匆匆记下 | |
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57
virulent
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| adj.有毒的，有恶意的，充满敌意的 | |
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58
abject
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| adj.极可怜的，卑屈的 | |
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59
cringing
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| adj.谄媚，奉承 | |
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60
refractory
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| adj.倔强的，难驾驭的 | |
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61
rascals
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| 流氓( rascal的名词复数 )； 无赖； （开玩笑说法）淘气的人（尤指小孩）； 恶作剧的人 | |
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62
rascal
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| n.流氓；不诚实的人 | |
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63
alas
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| int.唉(表示悲伤、忧愁、恐惧等) | |
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64
abominable
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| adj.可厌的，令人憎恶的 | |
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65
quorum
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| n.法定人数 | |
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66
whit
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| n.一点，丝毫 | |
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