Page:History of Greece Vol III.djvu/178

 162 HISTORY CF GREECE The articl' on Leading-houses, in Becicmann's History of Inventions {vol iii, pp. 9-50), is highly interesting and instructive on the same subject It traces the gradual calling in question, mitigation, and disappearance, of the ancient antipathy against taking interest for money, an antipathy long sanc- tioned by the ecclesiastics as well as by the jurists. Lending-houses, or Monts de Pietc, were first commenced in Italy about the middle of the fifteenth century, by some Franciscan monks, for the purpose of rescuing poor borrowers from the exorbitant exactions of the Jews : Pope Pius the Second (jEneas Silvias, one of the ablest of the popes, about 1458-14G4), was the first who approved of one of them at Perugia, but even the papal sanction was long combated by a. large proportion of ecclesiastics. At first, it was to be purely charitable ; not only neither giving interest to those who contributed money, nor taking interest from the borrowers. but not even providing fixed pay to the administrators : interest was tacitly taken, but the popes were a long time before they would formally approve of such a prac- tice. "At Vicenza, in order to avoid the reproach of usury, the artifice was employed of not demanding any interest, but admonishing the borrowers that they should give a remuneration according to their piety and ability," (p. 31.) The Dominicans, partisans of the old doctrine, called these establish- ments Monies Impictatis. A Franciscan monk Bcrnardinus, one of the most active promoters of the Monts de Piote, did not venture to defend, but only to excuse as an unavoidable evil, the payment of wages to the clerks and administrators : " Speciosius et religiosius fatebatur Bcrnardinus fore, si absquc ullo penitus obolo et pretio mutuum darctur ct commodarctur libcre pecunia, sed pium opus et pauperum subsidium exiguo sic duralumin tempore. Non enim (inquit) tantus est ardor hominum, ut gubcrnatorcs et officialcs, Montium ministcrio nccessarii, velint laborem hunc omncm gratia snbire : quod si remuncrandi sint ex sorte principal!, vel ipso dcposito, sea exili Montium serario, brevi cxhaurietur, et commodum opportunumque istud pauperum rcfugium ubique peribil," (p. 33.) The Council of Trent, during the following century, pronounced in favor of the legality and usefulness of these lending-houscs, and this has since been understood to be the sentiment of the Catholic church generally. To trace this gradual change of moral feeling is highly instructive, the more so, as that general basis of sentiment, of which the antipathy against lending money on interest is only a particular case, still prevails largely in society and directs the current of moral approbation and disapprobation. In some nations, as among the ancient Persians before Cyrus, this sent'ment has been carried so far as to repudiate and despise all buying and selling (Herodot i, 153). With many, the principle of reciprocity in human deal- ings appears, when conceived in theory, odious and contemptible, and goes by tome bad name, such as egoism, selfishness, calculation, political ccono my, etc : the only sentiment which they will admit in theory, is, that the man who has, ought to be ready at nil times to give away what he has to him M!IO has not; while the latter is encouraged to expect and :x;quira roch gratuitous donation.