This is the sum that the pomestchik has stolen, if not in money, at least in labor, from the peasant who has given all his life to his service.
And this money the pomestchik has lost at cards, or has used to satisfy similar caprices.
Why, I ask, has he taken this money? Did the peasant owe it to him? No. Had he any reason for acting thus? Not one. Then why has he taken this large sum? For nothing!
131. From the entire universe complaints are being made against God. If his goodness is infinite, whence comes the misery that overwhelms the poor?
If God governs the world with justice, why is there this inequality among men? Why is vice happy, and virtue miserable?
But is it the fault of the mirror if our face is ugly? In other words, is it God's fault if we reject the law that would establish equality among men?
132. Enforce this law which says that no one shall eat bread that another has labored for, except in legitimate cases, and then, if men are not yet equal, they will nevertheless approach more nearly to one another. Labor will cut the wings of those who would soar too loftily.
We are poor through your riches, but you are rich through our poverty.
133. Our great-grandfathers, say you, our grandfathers, our fathers, our ancestors in a word, have labored, and we also, as you see,
