Page:Montesquieu - The spirit of laws.djvu/119

Rh that of frugality, economy, moderation, labour, prudence, tranquillity, order, and rule. As long as this spirit subsists, the riches it produces have no bad effect. The mischief is when excessive wealth destroys this spirit of commerce; then it is that the inconveniences of inequality begin to be felt.

In order to support the spirit of commerce, it should be carried on by the principal citizens; this spirit alone ought to prevail without being crossed by another; all the laws should encourage it; and these very laws, by dividing the estates of individuals in proportion to the increase of commerce, should set every poor citizen so far at his ease as to be able to work like the rest, and every rich citizen in such a mediocrity as to be obliged to labour either to preserve or to acquire his wealth.

It is an excellent law in a trading republic, to make an equal division of the father's estate among the children. The consequence of this is, that how great soever a fortune the father has made, his children being not so rich as he, are induced to avoid luxury, and to follow the parent's industrious example. I speak here only of trading republics, for as to those that have no commerce, the legislator must pursue quite different measures.

In Greece there were two sorts of republics: the one military, like Sparta; the other commercial, as Athens. In one the citizens were obliged to be idle; in the other endeavours were used to inspire them with the love of industry and labour. Solon made idleness a crime, and insisted that each citizen should give an account of his manner of getting a Rh