Therefore in order to establish a prescriptive right to the trade with the East Indies the Portuguese would be compelled to prove coercion. But since in such a case as this coercion is contrary to the law of nature and obnoxious to all mankind, it cannot establish a right.[166] Next, that coercion must needs have been in existence for so long a time that “the memory of its beginning does not exist”; that, however, is so far from being the case that not even a hundred years had elapsed since the Venetians controlled nearly the entire trade with the East Indies, carrying it via Alexandria.[167] Again, the coercion ought to have been such that it was not resisted; but the English and the French and other nations besides, did resist it. Finally, it is not sufficient that _some_ be coerced, but it is indispensable that _all_ be coerced, because the possession of freedom of trade is preserved to all by a failure to use coercion upon even one person. Moreover, the Arabians and the Chinese are at the present day still carrying on with the people of the East Indies a trade which has been uninterrupted for several centuries. Portuguese usurpation is worthless. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - CAPVT XII _Nulla aequitate niti Lusitanos in prohibendo commercio_ Ex his quae dicta sunt satis perspicitur eorum caeca aviditas, qui, ne quemquam in partem lucri admittant, illis rationibus conscientiam suam placare student, quas ipsi magistri Hispanorum qui in eadem sunt causa manifestae vanitatis convincunt.[168a] Omnes enim qui in rebus Indicis usurpantur colores iniuste captari quantum ipsis licet, satis innuunt, adduntque numquam eam rem serio Theologorum examine probatam. Illa vero querela quid est iniquius, quod dicunt Lusitani quaestus suos exhauriri copia contra licentium? Inter certissima enim Iuris enuntiata est, nec in dolo eum versari, nec fraudem facere, ne damnum quidem alteri dare videri, qui iure suo utitur; quod maxime verum est, si non ut alteri noceatur, sed rem suam augendi animo quippiam fiat.[169a] Inspici enim debet id quod principaliter agitur, non quod extrinsecus in consequentiam venit. Immo si proprie loquimur cum Vlpiano, non ille damnum dat, sed lucro quo adhuc alter utebatur eum prohibet. Naturale autem est et summo iuri atque etiam aequitati - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - CHAPTER XII _The Portuguese prohibition of trade has no foundation in equity_