iniuriam, quae in commune fecunda est:[175a] neque vero censeri debet in usus paucorum reperta negotiatio, sed ut quod alteri deest alterius copia pensaretur, iusto tamen compendio omnibus proposito, qui laborem ac periculum transferendi in se suscipiunt.
Hoc ipsum igitur quod in republica, id est, minore hominum conventu, grave et perniciosum iudicatur, in magna illa humani generis societate ferendumne est? ut scilicet totius mundi monopolium faciant populi Hispani? Invehitur Ambrosius in eos qui maria claudunt,[176a] Augustinus in eos qui itinera obstruunt; Nazianzenus in[177a] coemptores suppressoresque mercium, qui ex inopia aliorum soli quaestum faciunt, et ut ipse facundissime loquitur καταπραγματεύονται τῆς ἐνδείας. Quin et divini sapientis sententia publicis diris devovetur sacerque habetur, qui alimenta supprimendo vexat annonam: ὅ συνέχων σῖτον δημοκατάρατος.
Clament igitur Lusitani quantum, et quam diu libebit: ‘Lucra nostra deciditis’. Respondebunt Batavi: ‘Immo nostris invigilamus. Hocne indignamini in partem nos venire ventorum et maris? Et quis illa vobis lucra mansura promiserat? Salvum est vobis, quo nos contenti sumus’.
to be wondered at, for such speculators are doing an injury to nature, who, as Aristotle says, is fertile for all alike.[175] Accordingly it ought not to be supposed that trade was invented for the benefit of a few, but in order that the lack of one would be counterbalanced by the oversupply of another, a fair return also being guaranteed to all who take upon themselves the work and the danger of transport.
Is the same thing then which is considered grievous and pernicious in the smaller community of a state to be put up with at all in that great community of the human race? Shall the people of Spain, forsooth, assume a monopoly of all the world? Ambrose inveighs against those who interfere with the freedom of the sea;[176] Augustine against those who obstruct the overland routes; and Gregory of Nazianzus[177] against those who buy goods and hold them, and thus (as he eloquently says) make profits for themselves alone out of the helplessness and need of others. Indeed in the opinion of this wise and holy man any person who holds back grain and thus forces up the market price ought to be given over to public punishment and be adjudged worthy of death.
Therefore the Portuguese may cry as loud and as long as they shall please: ‘You are cutting down our profits’! The Dutch will answer: ‘Nay! we are but looking out for our own interests! Are you angry because we share with you in the winds and the sea? Pray, who had promised that you would always have those advantages? You are secure in the possession of that with which we are quite content’.