Essays, or discourses, vol. 1 (of 4)

by Benito Jerónimo Feijoo

XIII. Quicksilver occasions continual tremors to him who works it in the mines; gold and silver, to him who keeps and turns them over in a chest. There is no doubt, but the pleasure of finding himself rich is greatest in a covetous man, but his care and anxiety are excessive in proportion to it. Besides this, he is not so much gratified by the goods he enjoys, as he is made uneasy by the desire of possessing those he is not master of. There is always in his heart an immense vacuum, as obnoxious to his avarice, as a vacuum in all bodies is to nature, and his thirst is of the dropsical kind, so that the more he drinks, the more he craves.

XIV. Upon a supposition then, that instead of convenience, there is evil and vexation in the mere possession of riches, let us proceed to take a view of the benefits that may result from their use. And first, riches to a very large amount, are exceedingly superfluous for furnishing the accommodations of life. If a man, possessed of a few thousands of crowns, can find sufficient to purchase all that can be reasonably desired, of what use are millions? To what purpose should he who finds water sufficient for all his occasions in a little fountain, bring a river into his house? He would acquire nothing by such an act, but the hatred and indignation of those, who see, that without utility to himself, a man monopolizes a stock of water, sufficient to accommodate a whole town; by doing which, he exposes himself to the malicious designs that a wicked and perverse person may form to take away his life, in hopes that by perpetrating the fatal deed, he might become master of his property; and it is certain, that many persons from such a motive only, have fallen victims to the knife or to poison; so that an excess of doubloons to the owner, are rather things of weight, than things of worth. I mean, that instead of a convenience, they are dangerous, and an evil of life.

XV. But though they are not necessary to furnish the reasonable accommodations of life, they may be serviceable to purchase the pleasures of it. Upon this head much may be said. The natural desires of the greatest part of mankind, are fixed upon such objects, that with a moderate income, they are able to satisfy all their real wants. Meat and drink that might be stiled regaling, the diversion of hunting, and frequent amusement at play, may be all attained with a moderate portion of thousands. Of what advantage are immense riches to him, whose whole delight is centered in the cup and the dish, if he cannot eat or drink more than the proportion of a single man; and if, urged by his gluttony, he strives to cram down as much as would serve two, he would soon destroy his health, and not be able to eat a sufficient quantity to satisfy half a man. A person spending his substance, in diversions that are not suited to his genius or inclination, is throwing it away intirely. The sweetness or soothing of music, is allowed to be the greatest enchantment existing in the world, but what charms has it to him who wants an ear, or cannot relish it? The vassals of Antæus, an ancient King of Scythia, having taken Ysmenias, the famous Theban musician, a prisoner in war, presented him to their master as a prize of great value. Anteus after hearing him awhile, declared, that the neighing of his horse sounded better to him than all the fine tones of Ysmenias. Nor should we understand, that the want of musical feeling is confined to one single barbarous genius, for not only the tigers fly from the lyre, but many cultivated spirits are deaf as adders to the charms of music. It is told of Justus Lipsius, that he abhorred music, and that his whole delight was in flowers and dogs. Many men are insensible of the recreation afforded by harmony; and those who are not, for the most part content themselves with a coarse sort of music, which may be had at a cheap rate, and often for nothing. The remarks we have made on music, may be applied generally to all other kinds of amusement. How many are there, who cannot endure so much as to be in company with, or to converse with women! Flowers, which are the most beautiful production of nature, and with which the fields are cloathed with more splendor and gaiety than Solomon in all his glory, to some people are not only ungrateful, but noxious also. There have been those, who the fragrancy of a rose has caused to fall into a fainting fit. Cardinal Esfrondati, in his Curso Philosophica, relates of another Cardinal, that during the whole time of the spring, he kept a watch at the door, to prevent a rose being brought into his house. Spacious gardens afford but a slender delight to abundance of men, and to many, not even that slender one; besides this, in time, it becomes a sickening amusement, which with regard to the gardens of others may be removed, but not with regard to a man’s own; for that being always in his view, he comes at last to loath the sight of it.

SECT. V.

XVI. Thus with respect to many individuals, all that is attracting is comprehended in objects of little value. It is true however, that if you could collect all these into one heap, they would amount to something considerable. But to what end should people endeavour this? I am sure I don’t know, nor many times they themselves neither. What passed between Pyrrhus, King of Albania, and his wise friend and counsellor Cineus, is pleasant, and applicable to this matter. Cineus said to that prince in a conversation between them, the subject of which was Pyrrhus’s intended invasion of the Romans; “Truly, Sir, the undertaking is difficult, for we shall have to do with a martial, and a powerful people; but supposing the success of our arms to be so great, as that we should subdue the Romans, what fruit shall we reap by the conquest?” “Are you at a loss to find out that, answered Pyrrhus? Shall not we make ourselves masters of all Italy?” And what shall we do afterwards, replied Cineus? Pyrrhus answered, “We will conquer Sicily, which is in the neighbourhood, and may be easily subdued.” “That will be a great thing, said Cineus; but when that’s done, shall we put an end to the war?” Pyrrhus, who had not yet penetrated the drift of Cineus in asking all these questions, answered, “By no means; after conquering Sicily, we will proceed to Africa, and possess ourselves of Carthage, and the adjacent kingdoms.” “You are clear, said Cineus, that the Gods will indulge you with all this good fortune; but when this is done, what are we to employ ourselves about next?” “We will return, said Pyrrhus; to our own country, cloathed with immense power, and we will conquer all the Empire of Greece.” “Having conquered Greece, replied Cineus, what are we to do then?” “When this is compleated, answered Pyrrhus, we will pass the remainder of our lives in soft and sublime indolence, without thinking of any thing but banquets, and festive society.” Here Cineus, who had without the King’s being aware of him, entangled him in the net, said laughingly; “But pray Sir, what should hinder us from beginning to enjoy all this happiness at this instant of time? Is not the kingdom you are possessed of sufficient to furnish you banquets, and every other kind of regale? To what end then, should you conquer provinces and cross seas, wasting your health, and exposing your life to the rage of waves, and fury of battles?”

XVII. This reasoning, which is taken almost literally from Plutarch, is well adapted, not only to that ambitious Prince, but may be also properly applied to an infinite number of other men; who accumulate riches upon riches, at the expence of dangers and fatigues, and who, without knowing what they are in pursuit of, run a vicious and an erroneous course, in search of the very thing they possess. The pride of Philip King of Macedon, was mortified with great address by Archidamus the IIId, King of Sparta, whom Philip had overcome in a battle; and the day after wrote Archidamus a letter, full of arrogance and insult; to which Archidamus answered, That if he would place himself in the sun, he would find that his shadow was not a jot bigger after, than it was the day before the battle. Thus it is, that fortune aggrandizes, but adds nothing to the stature.

SECT. VI.

XVIII. Those, who are under the dominion of ambition and avarice, invert the order and nature of things; placing the end in the means of attaining it. They desire more, only to hoard more, and to have more power, merely for the sake of domineering more. But how does it fare with such people? why that they are always unhappy; because the hunger and thirst of their desires is never appeased, but either remains constantly in the same state, or else proceeds to acquire fresh augmentations. The weight of honour and riches has the same effect on the human heart, which weights have upon a clock; the greater they are, they cause the machine to be more violently agitated, and to move with greater impetuosity. The passions go on to display a succession of cavities, as the first openings are continued to be filled up. At first, the thirst can be satisfied with a fountain; after having grown into a dropsy, it requires a river to satisfy it, and after having swallowed the river, it craves the ocean: Ecce absorbebit fluvium, & non mirabitur. Alexander in his first schemes of ambition, had nothing further in view, than the destruction of Thebes, and the conquest of Thrace and Illyricum; having compleated this, he took it into his head to subdue the Asiatic Empire, and when he was in quiet possession of that, upon hearing a philosopher say, there were more worlds, he wept with grief, because that being the case, his ambition could not be satiated with the conquest of one only; which caused Juvenal to sing as follows:

Unus Pellæo juveni non sufficit orbis.

XIX. Those who endeavour to acquire riches to make use of them, and to employ them in pleasures, seem to have the advantage with respect to temporal convenience. For who can dispute the happiness of him, who being master of great riches, makes them the tributaries of his appetites? so the world judges, and the world deceives itself. The most able man that the world ever produced, and the best qualified to give an opinion in this matter from his own experience, was Solomon, as there was not upon earth, a man who was richer, or even so rich, as him, nor did any man expend his riches with more prodigality to procure enjoyments; in the doing of which, he had this advantageous circumstance in his favour, to wit, his great wisdom and knowledge of nature; which taught him the means that were the best adapted, and the most likely to furnish delight, and which was the best method, of applying objects to enchant the senses: I say, hear this man’s sentiments on the subject, who himself confesses, that he had given a loose to his pleasures, and gratified them with every thing their voracity craved: Omnia, quæ desideraverunt oculi mei, non negavi eis: nec prohibui cor meum, quin omni voluptate frueretur. And what did he meet with in this sea of delights? nothing but bitter waters: he found that all was vanity and vexation of spirit: Vidi in omnibus vanitatem, & afflictionem animi; and he found it so to such an extreme degree, as to make his life a burthen to him: Idcirco tæduit me vitæ meæ.