14. Poverty, wealth, glory, and authoritative positions may have
many different causes. If a man derive his wealth from his parents,
the stars have only announced that he would be rich; and they would
have only announced his nobility if he owed his wealth to his birth.
If a man acquire wealth by his merit, in some way in which his body
contributed thereto, the causes of his bodily vigor co-operated in his
fortune; first his parents, then his fatherland, if it be possessed of
a good climate, and last the fertility of the soil.[248] If this man
owe his wealth to virtue, this source should be considered exclusive;
and likewise with the transitory advantages he may by divine favor
possess. Even if his wealth be derived from virtuous persons, still,
in another way, his fortune is due to virtue. If his wealth were
derived from evil men, though by a just means, yet the wealth proceeds
from a good principle which was active in them. Finally, if a man who
has amassed wealth be evil, the cause of his fortune is this very
wickedness, and the principle from which it derives; even those who may
have given him money must be included in the order of its causes. If a
man owe his wealth to labor, such as agricultural work, the causes of
the wealth include the care of the ploughman and the co-operation of
exterior circumstances. Even if he found a treasure, it is something
in the universe which contributed thereto. Besides, this discovery may
have been foretold; for all things concatenate with everything else,
and, consequently, announce each other. If a man scatter his wealth,
he is the cause of their loss; if his wealth be taken from him, the
cause is the man who takes it. Many are the contributory causes of a
shipwreck. Glory may be acquired justly or unjustly. Just glory is due
to services rendered, or to the esteem of other people. Unjust glory
is caused by the injustice of those who glorify that man. Deserved
power is due to the good sense of the electors, or to the activity of
the man who acquired it by the co-operation of his friends, or to
any other circumstance. A marriage is determined by a preference, or
by some accidental circumstance, or by the co-operation of several
circumstances. The procreation of children is one of its consequences;
it occurs in accordance with the ("seminal) reason," in case it meet no
obstacle; if it be defective, there must be some interior defect in the
pregnant mother, or the fault lies in the impotence of the father.