The Fable of the Bees; Or, Private Vices, Public BenefitsMandeville, Bernard
Philosophy
The Fable of the Bees; Or, Private Vices, Public Benefits
Mandeville, Bernard
Charity-schools -- Early works to 1800; Ethics -- Early works to 1800; Virtue -- Early works to 1800
It is possible, that when people play together who are at enmity,
and perhaps desirous of picking a quarrel, or where men playing
for trifles contend for superiority of skill, and aim chiefly at
the glory of conquest, nothing shall happen of what I have been
talking of. Different passions oblige us to take different measures;
what I have said I would have understood of ordinary play for money,
at which men endeavour to get, and venture to lose what they value:
And even here I know it will be objected by many, that though they
have been guilty of concealing their gains, yet they never observed
those passions which I allege as the causes of that frailty; which is
no wonder, because few men will give themselves leisure, and fewer yet
take the right method of examining themselves as they should do. It is
with the passions in men, as it is with colours in cloth: It is easy
to know a red, a green, a blue, a yellow, a black, &c. in as many
different places; but it must be an artist that can unravel all the
various colours and their proportions, that make up the compound of a
well-mixed cloth. In the same manner, may the passions be discovered
by every body whilst they are distinct, and a single one employs the
whole man; but it is very difficult to trace every motive of those
actions that are the result of a mixture of passions.
Line 163. And virtue, who from politics
Has learn'd a thousand cunning tricks,
Was, by their happy influence,
Made friends with vice.----
It may be said, that virtue is made friends with vice, when industrious
good people, who maintain their families, and bring up their children
handsomely, pay taxes, and are several ways useful members of the
society, get a livelihood by something that chiefly depends on, or is
very much influenced by the vices of others, without being themselves
guilty of, or accessary to them, any otherwise than by way of trade,
as a druggist may be to poisoning, or a sword-cutler to blood-shed.
Thus the merchant, that sends corn or cloth into foreign parts to
purchase wines and brandies, encourages the growth or manufactory
of his own country; he is a benefactor to navigation, increases
the customs, and is many ways beneficial to the public; yet it is
not to be denied, but that his greatest dependence is lavishness
and drunkenness: For, if none were to drink wine but such only as
stand in need of it, nor any body more than his health required, that
multitude of wine-merchants, vintners, coopers, &c. that make such a
considerable show in this flourishing city, would be in a miserable
condition. The same may be said not only of card and dice-makers,
that are the immediate ministers to a legion of vices; but that
of mercers, upholsterers, tailors, and many others, that would be
starved in half a year's time, if pride and luxury were at once to
be banished the nation.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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