The acquisition of fortune, is a road open to the ambition of all men, and, in the present days, is the only road open to that of most men.The mere desire to rise in the world, and envy of the superiority of other men, may excite many to enter on this path, and preserve them steadily in it.This sort of spirit, however, must be kept in strict check, by a large surrounding mass of genuine probity, and tenderness of the happiness of others, or it certainly breaks out into disorders.There is none more easily tempted to evil, or more dangerous.It is the first to diminish the security of all compacts, and transactions of business, by fraud and exactions; it is the first to disturb the public tranquillity, by sedation and conspiracies.It is such a spirit, predominating over a character otherwise good, that Shakespear paints in Caesius.Caesar thinks him to be feared, because, "Such men as he be never at heart's ease, While they behold a greater than themselves;And therefore are they very dangerous."
It is this temper that spurs him on, "in envy of great Caesar," to "humour, and win, the noble Brutus," to the assassination.It is the same spirit, that renders him unscrupulous, "To sell and mart his offices for gold, To undeservers ;"and, to wring "From the hard hand of peasants, their vile trash, By any indirection."When, therefore, the mere desire of distinction, is the object for which wealth is generally pursued, there, the pursuit infallibly, at length, withdraws from the path of virtue, and excites those engaged in it, to a disregard of their own honor, and the suffering of others.
"Magnum pauperism opprobrium jubet Quidvis et facere et pati, Virtutisque viam deserit ardueae."When such is the character of only a small minority of those who pursue wealth, it is not injuriously felt.The energy of their motion, rather quickens the progress of the whole, than retards it.It is very different, when such characters compose the majority of those engaged in such pursuits.
A chaos of deceit, treachery, knavery, is then generated, in which truth, generosity, good faith, compassion, perish.Hence it was, that the pursuit of wealth, in ancient times, was held as absolutely incompatible, with the lowest degree of liberal sentiment, virtuous spirit, or common honesty.
Plato expressly says, that in commerce and traffic there is no such thing as an honest man, and numerous passages from the Greek and Roman writers might be cited in proof, that, in those days, it was admitted on all hands, that the character of the money-making man, was uniformly vicious.The following is one of the most striking I can presently find.
"It is impossible for the same man to be given to sensual pleasures, and to the love of money, and to be religious.For he who is a lover of pleasure will be a lover of money, and he who loves money, must of necessity be unjust, and a violator of the laws of God and man." (35) It is here not thought necessary to give any proof of the assertion, on the contrary, it is taken as an admitted fact, from which a consequence may be deduced.
In those times, therefore, the pursuit of wealth was disreputable, and the self-love of no one could be gratified by the character it procured him.We are apt to conceive the observation of St.Paul, that "the love of money is the root of all evil, and infallibly leads to wickedness,"as springing from the ascetic spirit in which he contemplated matters, whereas it is common to him with all the moralists of his time, even with the most liberal of them, and must be held as a mere statement of what was then an obvious fact.Thus Horace calls it the same thing, "summi materiam mali," and the voice of the whole age agrees with him.An assiduous care to the increase of fortune was then esteemed evil, and the source of evil, and was reprobated accordingly.It was evil, because generally proceeding from a grasping, sordid, selfish spirit.It was the source of evil, because the great exciter of fraud, knavery, and violence.It is in more moral communities alone, where the real springs of action are not selfish, and where a desire for the good of others is one of the chief movers, animating the exertions, and giving a tone to the feelings and actions of the whole body, that the virtuous and liberal mind, sympathizes with, and approves the conduct of the man, who gives his days to labor, and his nights to engrossing care, for the purpose of increasing his gains.There, such a life is not deemed selfish, sordid, or unhappy, because there, it is known generally to proceed from a totally opposite spirit, and to have for its sustaining principle, the welfare of others, rather than of the individual;and there, it is esteemed praiseworthy, because there, its general tendency is good, not evil.There, too, ambition alone may, no doubt, lead those who want other motives into the paths of sober industry and frugality, because the desire of excelling in whatever is attempted, must impel individuals actuated by it, to every pursuit that other men gain credit by.It is not perhaps the object gained, so much as the gaining of it, (which gives it value in their eyes.But, it is only where such conduct procures consideration, and respect, that we can expect it will be steadily pursued by such persons.
Where patient and assiduous industry, and undeviating integrity, procure the highest name, and fame, they will be followed by many who value them not in themselves.But this observation only proves, that we have to seek for the general course of action of the individual, in the circumstances determining that of the society.
