sary in all these governments, could not possibly receive in them all the same degree of favour.
Again—the difference of local position divided the Greeks into two classes; those who applied themselves to commerce, and those who did not. The one honoured it because it was necessary to their existence; the other despised it as useless to themselves, and exaggerated the inconveniences which sometimes attend its extension. Commerce would never have been adapted for the haughty Thessalians, Bœotians, and Spartans. It was not the detail of commerce alone which these men condemned, but commerce in its most general and liberal form—as the parent of factitious and dangerous wealth. The states whose territory was poor, looked on commerce as a mean of increasing their power; those, again, which were favoured by nature, could see in it only a principle of danger and destruction.
It seems to be a very general opinion, that commerce and the fine arts are inseparately connected: nevertheless, in reviewing the history of the most celebrated commercial cities, it is impossible not to observe, that these two sources of wealth have by no means been in every instance united. Commerce, in fact, when left to follow its own proper inclinations, is little attentive to the fine arts,—or rather appears to be wholly ignorant of the important benefits which may be derived from their cultivation. The interests which occupy the mind of the trader, are too important to admit of any such participation. Surrounded by his merchandise and his ledgers, it is not always an easy matter for him to lift his view towards the higher regions of taste and intellect. Who, besides, would be willing to devote himself to long and painful studies,—to labours which are little lucrative, and as little esteemed, when he has so many means of fortune in his power, and sees every day the comparative promptitude and facility, with which commercial wealth is realized? If the arts then prosper in commercial cities, they are far from doing so by the mere effect of the refinement of commercial men. The particular vigilance, on the contrary, and unremitting care of the legislature, are necessary; and these, not unfrequently, in total opposition to the general spirit of the people. Commerce is the parent of many evils, to which antidotes must be discovered. It instigates to luxury; it polishes the manners, and it corrupts them. Rich in moveable property, its tendency is to make all men cosmopolites. Such, at least, was the opinion of the Greek philosophers, and the severity of their doctrines on this head is well known. The arts, said they, are necessary in commercial countries, not only in respect to their manufactures, for the enlightening and direction of the taste,—but, in a moral point of view, for the animation of virtue and of patriotism. To decorate our native country with superb monuments of art—to embellish the public festivals—to immortalize illustrious actions—and to place before the eyes of the people the true and undegraded images of purity and beauty,—is at once to ennoble the ideas of men,—to excite and nourish national pride and enthusiasm,—and to plant the most generous of passions in the room of meanness and cupidity.
Plato rejected from his republic both commerce and the arts; but it was with a very important restriction. "If commerce must be introduced into our republic," says he, "it is necessary that the arts come with it; that so, by beholding every day the masterpieces of painting, sculpture, and architecture, full of grace and purity in all their proportions, dispositions least inclined for the perception of elegance may be, as it were, removed into a purer and more healthy atmosphere,—and learn, by degrees, a taste for the beautiful—the becoming—and the delicate. They will learn to observe, with accuracy, what is lovely or defective in the works of art and of nature; and this happy rectitude of judgment will become a second nature to their souls."[1] But in what regards governments, the same favour will be granted to the fine arts—there only where the same benefits are expected to accrue from their cultivation. Their object is to make men love their country by the attraction of honourable recompenses; how then can they be useful in an oligarchy? If they are there employed, it is always with regret. Immense edifices are sometimes built; but there are
- ↑ De Rep. L. viii.
