96. Commerce is necessary, however, not only to exchange local products, but local skill. Labour requiring the agency of fire can only be given abundantly in cold countries; labour requiring suppleness2 of body and sensitiveness of touch, only in warm ones; labour involving accurate vivacity3 of thought only in temperate4 ones; while peculiar5 imaginative actions are produced by extremes of heat and cold, and of light and darkness. The production of great art is limited to climates warm enough to admit of repose6 in the open air, and cool enough to render such repose delightful7. Minor8 variations in modes of skill distinguish every locality. The labour which at any place is easiest, is in that place cheapest; and it becomes often desirable that products raised in one country should be wrought9 in another. Hence have arisen discussions on “International values” which will be one day remembered as highly curious exercises of the human mind. For it will be discovered, in due course of tide and time, that international value is regulated just as inter-provincial or inter-parishional value is. Coals and hops10 are exchanged between Northumberland and Kent on absolutely the same principles as iron and wine between Lancashire and Spain. The greater breadth of an arm of the sea increases the cost, but does not modify the principle of exchange; and a bargain written in two languages will have no other economical results than a bargain written in one. The distances of nations are measured, not by seas, but by ignorances; and their divisions determined11, not by dialects, but by enmities.44
97. Of course, a system of international values may always be constructed if we assume a relation of moral law to physical geography; as, for instance, that it is right to cheat or rob across a river, though not across a road; or across a sea, though not across a river, &c.; — again, a system of such values may be constructed by assuming similar relations of taxation12 to physical geography; as, for instance, that an article should be taxed in crossing a river, but not in crossing a road; or in being carried fifty miles, but not in being carried five, &c.; such positions are indeed not easily maintained when once put in logical form; but one law of international value is maintainable in any form: namely, that the farther your neighbour lives from you, and the less he understands you, the more you are bound to be true in your dealings with him; because your power over him is greater in proportion to his ignorance, and his remedy more difficult in proportion to his distance.45
98. I have just said the breadth of sea increases the cost of exchange. Now note that exchange, or commerce, in itself, is always costly13; the sum of the value of the goods being diminished by the cost of their conveyance14, and by the maintenance of the persons employed in it; so that it is only when there is advantage to both producers (in getting the one thing for the other) greater than the loss in conveyance, that the exchange is expedient15. And it can only be justly conducted when the porters kept by the producers (commonly called merchants) expect mere16 pay, and not profit.46 For in just commerce there are but three parties — the two persons or societies exchanging, and the agent or agents of exchange; the value of the things to be exchanged is known by both the exchangers, and each receives equal value, neither gaining nor losing (for whatever one gains the other loses). The intermediate agent is paid a known per-centage by both, partly for labour in conveyance, partly for care, knowledge, and risk; every attempt at concealment17 of the amount of the pay indicates either effort on the part of the agent to obtain unjust profit, or effort on the part of the exchangers to refuse him just pay. But for the most part it is the first, namely, the effort on the part of the merchant to obtain larger profit (so-called) by buying cheap and selling dear. Some part, indeed, of this larger gain is deserved, and might be openly demanded, because it is the reward of the merchant’s knowledge, and foresight18 of probable necessity; but the greater part of such gain is unjust; and unjust in this most fatal way, that it depends, first, on keeping the exchangers ignorant of the exchange value of the articles; and, secondly19, on taking advantage of the buyer’s need and the seller’s poverty. It is, therefore, one of the essential, and quite the most fatal, forms of usury20; for usury means merely taking an exorbitant47 sum for the use of anything; and it is no matter whether the exorbitance21 is on loan or exchange, on rent or on price — the essence of the usury being that it is obtained by advantage of opportunity or necessity, and not as due reward for labour. All the great thinkers, therefore, have held it to be unnatural22 and impious, in so far as it feeds on the distress23 of others, or their folly24.48 Nevertheless, attempts to repress it by law must for ever be ineffective; though Plato, Bacon, and the First Napoleon — all three of them men who knew somewhat more of humanity than the “British merchant” usually does — tried their hands at it, and have left some (probably) good moderative forms of law, which we will examine in their place. But the only final check upon it must be radical25 purifying of the national character, for being, as Bacon calls it, “concessum propter duritiem cordis,” it is to be done away with by touching26 the heart only; not, however, without medicinal law — as in the case of the other permission, “propter duritiem.” But in this more than in anything (though much in all, and though in this he would not himself allow of their application, for his own laws against usury are sharp enough), Plato’s words in the fourth book of the Polity are true, that neither drugs, nor charms, nor burnings, will touch a deep-lying political sore, any more than a deep bodily one; but only right and utter change of constitution: and that “they do but lose their labour who think that by any tricks of law they can get the better of these mischiefs29 of commerce, and see not that they hew30 at a Hydra31.”
99. And indeed this Hydra seems so unslayable, and sin sticks so fast between the joinings of the stones of buying and selling, that “to trade” in things, or literally33 “cross-give” them, has warped34 itself, by the instinct of nations, into their worst word for fraud; for, because in trade there cannot but be trust, and it seems also that there cannot but also be injury in answer to it, what is merely fraud between enemies becomes treachery among friends: and “trader,” “traditor,” and “traitor” are but the same word. For which simplicity35 of language there is more reason than at first appears: for as in true commerce there is no “profit,” so in true commerce there is no “sale.” The idea of sale is that of an interchange between enemies respectively endeavouring to get the better one of another; but commerce is an exchange between friends; and there is no desire but that it should be just, any more than there would be between members of the same family.49 The moment there is a bargain over the pottage, the family relation is dissolved:— typically, “the days of mourning for my father are at hand.” Whereupon follows the resolve, “then will I slay32 my brother.”
100. This inhumanity of mercenary commerce is the more notable because it is a fulfilment of the law that the corruption37 of the best is the worst. For as, taking the body natural for symbol of the body politic27, the governing and forming powers may be likened to the brain, and the labouring to the limbs, the mercantile, presiding over circulation and communication of things in changed utilities, is symbolized38 by the heart; and, if that hardens, all is lost. And this is the ultimate lesson which the leader of English intellect meant for us, (a lesson, indeed, not all his own, but part of the old wisdom of humanity), in the tale of the Merchant of Venice; in which the true and incorrupt merchant — kind and free beyond every other Shakspearian conception of men — is opposed to the corrupted39 merchant, or usurer; the lesson being deepened by the expression of the strange hatred40 which the corrupted merchant bears to the pure one, mixed with intense scorn —
“This is the fool that lent out money gratis41; look to him, jailer,” (as to lunatic no less than criminal) the enmity, observe, having its symbolism literally carried out by being aimed straight at the heart, and finally foiled by a literal appeal to the great moral law that flesh and blood cannot be weighed, enforced by “Portia”50 (“Portion”), the type of divine Fortune, found, not in gold, nor in silver, but in lead, that is to say, in endurance and patience, not in splendour; and finally taught by her lips also, declaring, instead of the law and quality of “merces,” the greater law and quality of mercy, which is not strained, but drops as the rain, blessing42 him that gives and him that takes. And observe that this “mercy” is not the mean “Misericordia,” but the mighty43 “Gratia,” answered by Gratitude44, (observe Shylock’s leaning on the, to him detestable, word, gratis, and compare the relations of Grace to Equity45 given in the second chapter of the second book of the Memorabilia;) that is to say, it is the gracious or loving, instead of the strained, or competing manner, of doing things, answered, not only with “merces” or pay, but with “merci” or thanks. And this is indeed the meaning of the great benediction46 “Grace, mercy, and peace,” for there can be no peace without grace, (not even by help of rifled cannon), nor even without triplicity of graciousness, for the Greeks, who began but with one Grace, had to open their scheme into three before they had done.
101. With the usual tendency of long repeated thought, to take the surface for the deep, we have conceived these goddesses as if they only gave loveliness to gesture; whereas their true function is to give graciousness to deed, the other loveliness arising naturally out of that. In which function Charis becomes Charitas;51 and has a name and praise even greater than that of Faith or Truth, for these may be maintained sullenly47 and proudly; but Charis is in her countenance48 always gladdening (Aglaia), and in her service instant and humble49; and the true wife of Vulcan, or Labour. And it is not until her sincerity50 of function is lost, and her mere beauty contemplated51 instead of her patience, that she is born again of the foam52 flake53, and becomes Aphrodite; and it is then only that she becomes capable of joining herself to war and to the enmities of men, instead of to labour and their services. Therefore the fable54 of Mars and Venus is chosen by Homer, picturing himself as Demodocus, to sing at the games in the court of Alcinous. Ph?acia is the Homeric island of Atlantis; an image of noble and wise government, concealed55, (how slightly!) merely by the change of a short vowel56 for a long one in the name of its queen; yet misunderstood by all later writers, (even by Horace, in his “pinguis, Ph?axque”). That fable expresses the perpetual error of men in thinking that grace and dignity can only be reached by the soldier, and never by the artisan; so that commerce and the useful arts have had the honour and beauty taken away, and only the Fraud and Pain left to them, with the lucre57. Which is, indeed, one great reason of the continual blundering about the offices of government with respect to commerce. The higher classes are ashamed to employ themselves in it; and though ready enough to fight for (or occasionally against) the people — to preach to them — or judge them, will not break bread for them; the refined upper servant who has willingly looked after the burnishing58 of the armoury and ordering of the library, not liking59 to set foot in the larder60.
102. Farther still. As Charis becomes Charitas on the one side, she becomes — better still — Chara, Joy, on the other; or rather this is her very mother’s milk and the beauty of her childhood; for God brings no enduring Love, nor any other good, out of pain; nor out of contention61; but out of joy and harmony. And in this sense, human and divine, music and gladness, and the measures of both, come into her name; and Cher becomes full-vowelled Cheer, and Cheerful; and Chara opens into Choir62 and Choral.52
103. And lastly. As Grace passes into Freedom of action, Charis becomes Eleutheria, or Liberality; a form of liberty quite curiously63 and intensely different from the thing usually understood by “Liberty” in modern language: indeed, much more like what some people would call slavery: for a Greek always understood, primarily, by liberty, deliverance from the law of his own passions (or from what the Christian64 writers call bondage65 of corruption), and this a complete liberty: not being merely safe from the Siren, but also unbound from the mast, and not having to resist the passion, but making it fawn66 upon, and follow him —(this may be again partly the meaning of the fawning67 beasts about the Circean cave; so, again, George Herbert —
Correct thy passion’s spite,
Then may the beasts draw thee to happy light)—
And it is only in such generosity68 that any man becomes capable of so governing others as to take true part in any system of national economy. Nor is there any other eternal distinction between the upper and lower classes than this form of liberty, Eleutheria, or benignity69, in the one, and its opposite of slavery, Douleia, or malignity70, in the other; the separation of these two orders of men, and the firm government of the lower by the higher, being the first conditions of possible wealth and economy in any state — the Gods giving it no greater gift than the power to discern its true freemen, and “malignum spernere vulgus.”
104. While I have traced the finer and higher laws of this matter for those whom they concern, I have also to note the material law — vulgarly expressed in the proverb, “Honesty is the best policy.” That proverb is indeed wholly inapplicable to matters of private interest. It is not true that honesty, as far as material gain is concerned, profits individuals. A clever and cruel knave71 will in a mixed society always be richer than an honest person can be. But Honesty is the best “policy,” if policy mean practice of State. For fraud gains nothing in a State. It only enables the knaves72 in it to live at the expense of honest people; while there is for every act of fraud, however small, a loss of wealth to the community. Whatever the fraudulent person gains, some other person loses, as fraud produces nothing; and there is, besides, the loss of the time and thought spent in accomplishing the fraud, and of the strength otherwise obtainable by mutual73 help (not to speak of the fevers of anxiety and jealousy74 in the blood, which are a heavy physical loss, as I will show in due time). Practically, when the nation is deeply corrupt36 cheat answers to cheat; every one is in turn imposed upon, and there is to the body politic the dead loss of the ingenuity75, together with the incalculable mischief28 of the injury to each defrauded76 person, producing collateral77 effect unexpectedly. My neighbour sells me bad meat: I sell him in return flawed iron. We neither of us get one atom of pecuniary78 advantage on the whole transaction, but we both suffer unexpected inconvenience; my men get scurvy79, and his cattle-truck runs off the rails.
105. The examination of this form of Charis must, therefore, lead us into the discussion of the principles of government in general, and especially of that of the poor by the rich, discovering how the Graciousness joined with the Greatness, or Love with Majestas, is the true Dei Gratia, or Divine Right, of every form and manner of King; i. e., specifically, of the thrones, dominations, princedoms, virtues80, and powers of the earth:— of the thrones, stable, or “ruling,” literally right-doing powers (“rex eris, recte si facies”):— of the dominations — lordly, edifying81, dominant82 and harmonious83 powers; chiefly domestic, over the “built thing,” domus, or house; and inherently twofold, Dominus and Domina; Lord and Lady:— of the Princedoms, pre-eminent, incipient84, creative, and demonstrative powers; thus poetic85 and mercantile, in the “princeps carmen deduxisse” and the merchant-prince:— of the Virtues or Courages; militant86, guiding, or Ducal powers:— and finally of the Strengths, or Forces pure; magistral powers, of the More over the less, and the forceful and free over the weak and servile elements of life.
Subject enough for the next paper, involving “economical” principles of some importance, of which, for theme, here is a sentence, which I do not care to translate, for it would sound harsh in English,53 though, truly, it is one of the tenderest ever uttered by man; which may be meditated87 over, or rather through, in the meanwhile, by any one who will take the pains:—
Αρ’ ουν, ?σπερ ?ππο? τω ανεπιστημονι μεν εγχειρουντι δε χρησθαι ζημια εστιν, ουτω και αδελφο?, ?ταν τι? αυτω μη επισταμενο? εγχειρ χρησθαι, ζημια εστι;
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1
latitudes
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| 纬度 | |
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suppleness
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| 柔软； 灵活； 易弯曲； 顺从 | |
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vivacity
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| n.快活，活泼，精神充沛 | |
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temperate
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| adj.温和的，温带的，自我克制的，不过分的 | |
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peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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repose
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| v.(使)休息；n.安息 | |
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delightful
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| adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的 | |
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minor
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| adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修 | |
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wrought
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| v.引起；以…原料制作；运转；adj.制造的 | |
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hops
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| 跳上[下]( hop的第三人称单数 )； 单足蹦跳； 齐足（或双足）跳行； 摘葎草花 | |
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determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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taxation
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| n.征税，税收，税金 | |
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costly
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| adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的 | |
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conveyance
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| n.(不动产等的)转让，让与；转让证书；传送；运送；表达；（正）运输工具 | |
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expedient
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| adj.有用的，有利的；n.紧急的办法，权宜之计 | |
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mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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concealment
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foresight
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| n.先见之明，深谋远虑 | |
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secondly
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usury
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| n.高利贷 | |
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exorbitance
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unnatural
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distress
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| n.苦恼，痛苦，不舒适；不幸；vt.使悲痛 | |
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folly
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| n.愚笨，愚蠢，蠢事，蠢行，傻话 | |
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radical
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| n.激进份子，原子团，根号；adj.根本的，激进的，彻底的 | |
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touching
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politic
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mischief
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| n.损害，伤害，危害；恶作剧，捣蛋，胡闹 | |
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mischiefs
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| 损害( mischief的名词复数 )； 危害； 胡闹； 调皮捣蛋的人 | |
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hew
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| v.砍；伐；削 | |
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hydra
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| n.水螅；难于根除的祸患 | |
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slay
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| v.杀死，宰杀，杀戮 | |
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literally
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| adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实 | |
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warped
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| adj.反常的；乖戾的；（变）弯曲的；变形的v.弄弯，变歪( warp的过去式和过去分词 )；使（行为等）不合情理，使乖戾， | |
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simplicity
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| n.简单，简易；朴素；直率，单纯 | |
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corrupt
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corruption
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| n.腐败，堕落，贪污 | |
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symbolized
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| v.象征，作为…的象征( symbolize的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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corrupted
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| （使）败坏( corrupt的过去式和过去分词 )； （使）腐化； 引起（计算机文件等的）错误； 破坏 | |
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hatred
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| n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨 | |
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gratis
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| adj.免费的 | |
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blessing
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| n.祈神赐福；祷告；祝福，祝愿 | |
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mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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gratitude
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| adj.感激，感谢 | |
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equity
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| n.公正，公平，（无固定利息的）股票 | |
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benediction
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| n.祝福；恩赐 | |
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sullenly
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| 不高兴地，绷着脸，忧郁地 | |
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countenance
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| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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humble
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| adj.谦卑的，恭顺的；地位低下的；v.降低，贬低 | |
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sincerity
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| n.真诚，诚意；真实 | |
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contemplated
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| adj. 预期的 动词contemplate的过去分词形式 | |
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foam
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| v./n.泡沫，起泡沫 | |
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flake
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| v.使成薄片；雪片般落下；n.薄片 | |
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fable
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| n.寓言；童话；神话 | |
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concealed
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| a.隐藏的，隐蔽的 | |
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vowel
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| n.元音；元音字母 | |
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lucre
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| n.金钱，财富 | |
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burnishing
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| n.磨光，抛光，擦亮v.擦亮（金属等），磨光( burnish的现在分词 )；被擦亮，磨光 | |
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liking
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| n.爱好；嗜好；喜欢 | |
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larder
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| n.食物贮藏室，食品橱 | |
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contention
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| n.争论，争辩，论战；论点，主张 | |
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choir
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| n.唱诗班，唱诗班的席位，合唱团，舞蹈团；v.合唱 | |
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curiously
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| adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地 | |
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Christian
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| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
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bondage
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| n.奴役，束缚 | |
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fawn
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| n.未满周岁的小鹿；v.巴结，奉承 | |
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fawning
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| adj.乞怜的，奉承的v.（尤指狗等）跳过来往人身上蹭以示亲热( fawn的现在分词 )；巴结；讨好 | |
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generosity
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| n.大度，慷慨，慷慨的行为 | |
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benignity
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| n.仁慈 | |
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malignity
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| n.极度的恶意，恶毒；（病的）恶性 | |
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knave
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| n.流氓；（纸牌中的）杰克 | |
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knaves
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| n.恶棍，无赖( knave的名词复数 )；（纸牌中的）杰克 | |
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mutual
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| adj.相互的，彼此的；共同的，共有的 | |
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jealousy
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| n.妒忌，嫉妒，猜忌 | |
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ingenuity
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| n.别出心裁；善于发明创造 | |
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defrauded
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| v.诈取，骗取( defraud的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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collateral
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| adj.平行的；旁系的；n.担保品 | |
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pecuniary
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| adj.金钱的；金钱上的 | |
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scurvy
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| adj.下流的，卑鄙的，无礼的；n.坏血病 | |
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virtues
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| 美德( virtue的名词复数 )； 德行； 优点； 长处 | |
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edifying
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| adj.有教训意味的，教训性的，有益的v.开导，启发( edify的现在分词 ) | |
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dominant
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| adj.支配的，统治的；占优势的；显性的；n.主因，要素，主要的人(或物)；显性基因 | |
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harmonious
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| adj.和睦的，调和的，和谐的，协调的 | |
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incipient
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| adj.起初的，发端的，初期的 | |
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poetic
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| adj.富有诗意的，有诗人气质的，善于抒情的 | |
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militant
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| adj.激进的，好斗的；n.激进分子，斗士 | |
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meditated
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| 深思，沉思，冥想( meditate的过去式和过去分词 )； 内心策划，考虑 | |
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