Concessit nemo, nisi forte Pontifex, qui non potuit.[163a] Nemo enim quod suum non est concedere potest. At Pontifex, nisi totius Mundi temporalis sit Dominus, quod negant sapientes, ius etiam commerciorum universale sui iuris dicere non potest. Maxime vero cum res sit ad solum quaestum accommodata, nihilque ad spiritualem procurationem pertinens, extra quam cessat, ut fatentur omnes, Pontificia potestas. Praeterea si Pontifex solis illud Lusitanis ius tribuere vellet idemque adimere hominibus ceteris, duplicem faceret iniuriam: Primum Indis, quos ut extra Ecclesiam positos Pontifici nulla ex parte subditos esse diximus. His igitur cum nihil quod ipsorum est adimere possit Pontifex, etiam ius illud quod habent cum quibuslibet negotiandi adimere non potuit. Deinde aliis hominibus omnibus Christianis et non Christianis, quibus idem illud ius adimere non potuit sine causa indicta. Quid quod ne temporales quidem Domini in suis imperiis prohibere possunt commerciorum libertatem, uti rationibus et auctoritatibus ante demonstratum est? Sicut et illud confitendum est, contra ius perpetuum naturae gentiumque, unde ista libertas originem sumpsit in omne tempus duratura, nullam valere Pontificis auctoritatem. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - CHAPTER X _Trade with the East Indies does not belong to the Portuguese by virtue of title based on the Papal Donation_ No one has granted it except perhaps the Pope, and he did not have the power.[163] For no one can give away what he does not himself possess. But the Pope, unless he were the temporal master of the whole world, which sensible men deny, cannot say that the universal right in respect of trade belongs to him. Especially is this true since trade has to do only with material gains, and has no concern at all with spiritual matters, outside of which, as all admit, Papal power ceases. Besides, if the Pope wished to give that right to the Portuguese alone, and to deprive all other men of the same right, he would be doing a double injustice. In the first place, he would do an injustice to the people of the East Indies who, placed as we have said outside the Church, are in no way subjects of the Pope. Therefore, since the Pope cannot take away from them anything that is theirs, he could not take away their right of trading with whomsoever they please. In the second place, he would do an injustice to all other men both Christian and non-Christian, from whom he could not take that same right without a hearing. Besides, what are we to say of the fact that not even temporal lords in their own dominions are competent to prohibit the freedom of trade, as has been demonstrated above by reasonable and authoritative statements? Therefore it must be acknowledged, that the authority of the Pope has absolutely no force against the eternal law of nature and of nations, from whence came that liberty which is destined to endure for ever and ever.