THE GEOMETRICIAN.--And yet there is no other. In every country it is the rich that enable the poor to live. This is the sole source of the industry of commerce. The more industrious a nation itself is, the more it gains from foreign countries. Could we, on our foreign trade, get ten millions a year by the balance in our favor, there would, in twenty years, be two hundred millions more in the nation. This would afford ten livres a head more, on the supposition of an equitable distribution; that is to say, that the dealers would make each poor person earn ten livres the more, once paid, in the hopes of making still more considerable gains. But commerce, like the fertility of the earth, has its bounds, otherwise its progression would be _ad infinitum_. Nor, besides, is it clear, that the balance of our trade is constantly favorable to us; there are times in which we lose. THE MAN OF FORTY CROWNS.--I have heard much talk of population. If our inhabitants were doubled, so that we numbered forty millions of people instead of twenty, what would be the consequence? THE GEOMETRICIAN.--It would be this: that, one with another, each would have, instead of forty, but twenty crowns to live upon; or that the land should produce double the crops it now does; or that there should be double the national industry, or of gain from foreign countries; or that half of the people should be sent to America; or that one half of the nation should eat the other. THE MAN OF FORTY CROWNS.--Let us then remain satisfied with our twenty millions of inhabitants, and with our hundred and twenty livres a head, distributed as it shall please the Lord. Yet this situation is a sad one, and your iron age is hard indeed. THE GEOMETRICIAN.--There is no nation that is better off; and there are many that are worse. Do you believe that there is in the North wherewithal to afford to each inhabitant the value of an hundred and twenty of our livres a year? If they had had the equivalent of this, the Huns, the Vandals, and the Franks would not have deserted their country, in quest of establishments elsewhere, which they conquered, fire and sword in hand. THE MAN OF FORTY CROWNS.--If I were to listen to you, you would persuade me presently that I am happy with my hundred and twenty livres. THE GEOMETRICIAN.--If you would but think yourself happy, you would then be so. THE MAN OF FORTY CROWNS.--A man cannot imagine what actually is not, unless he be mad. THE GEOMETRICIAN.--I have already told you, that in order to be more at your ease, and more happy than you are, you should take a wife; to which I tack, however, this clause, that she has, as well as you, one hundred and twenty livres a year; that is to say, four acres at ten crowns an acre. The ancient Romans had each but one. If your children are industrious, they can each earn as much by their working for others. THE MAN OF FORTY CROWNS.--So that they may get money, without others losing it.