get hold of rivals in commerce, that of
envy is so great, when avarice is defeated, that, to humble a successful
rival, they will meet ruin themselves, without fear, and even with
satisfaction.
-=-

[end of page #58]

the borders of the Mediterranean Sea, those maritime powers who
navigated the main ocean became the contending parties.

There are only two ways by which wealth is accumulated and brought
into few hands; the one by compulsion and levying taxes, the other by
producing or procuring objects of desire; for a small quantity of
which, people give up a great portion of their labour.

Sovereigns have amassed wealth and possessed revenue by the first
means, and the use they have put it to has been magnificence in
building, or in great or useful works, for war, or for pleasure.

The wealth obtained by the other means, of which the trade to the East
seems to have been the chief, produced a different effect. In Italy it
occasioned the invention of bills of exchange, and gave
encouragement to the fine arts, and to some manufactures. In the north
of Europe it infused a general spirit for trade and manufactures; for the
luxuries of the East only served to teach the people of the north the
necessity of acquiring comfort by manufacturing the produce of their
own country.

To improve the arts of weaving, to make woollen and linen cloths of a
finer texture, was very natural, after having seen the silks and muslins
that came from India; particularly to people living in a cold climate,
where a more substantial covering was wanted, and where the
materials were in abundance.

It was, accordingly, in Flanders, and the adjacent country, that the
modern spirit of manufactures rose up, nourished by the wealth which
the ancient commerce of India had produced.

In the early ages, when the Tyrians had this trade, they amassed great
wealth, though they had not any large countries to supply; for,
probably, neither Egypt nor the eastern part of Syria would receive the
produce by so circuitous a road. But, during the first ages, sacrifices to
the gods and the funeral ceremonies consumed vast quantities of
aromatics of every sort, as well as the enjoyments of the living. The
two former causes of request for aromatics have long been at an end,
owing to the changes in religion. They are now neither burned on the
altar nor at the grave; and custom and taste, which are to a certain [end
of page #59] degree variable and arbitrary, ha