I cannot call riches better than the baggage of virtue; the Roman word
is better, “impedimenta;” for as the baggage is to an army, so is
riches to virtue; it cannot be spared nor left behind, but it hindereth
the march; yea, and the care of it sometimes loseth or disturbeth
the victory. Of great riches there is no real use, except it be in
the distribution; the rest is but conceit. So saith Solomon: “Where
much is, there are many to consume it; and what hath the owner, but
the sight of it with his eyes?”[376] The personal fruition in any man
cannot reach to feel great riches: there is a custody of them, or a
power of dole and donative of them, or a fame of them, but no solid use
to the owner. Do you not see what feigned prices are set upon little
stones and rarities? and what works of ostentation are undertaken,
because there might seem to be some use of great riches? But then you
will say, they may be of use to buy men out of dangers or troubles;
as Solomon saith: “Riches are as a strong-hold in the imagination of
the rich man;”[377] but this is excellently expressed, that it is in
imagination, and not always in fact; for, certainly, great riches have
sold more men than they have bought out. Seek not proud riches, but
such as thou mayest get justly, use soberly, distribute cheerfully,
and leave contentedly; yet have no abstract nor friarly contempt of
them, but distinguish, as Cicero saith well of Rabirius Posthumus:
“In studio rei amplificandæ apparebat, non avaritiæ prædam, sed
instrumentum bonitati quæri.”[378] Hearken also to Solomon, and beware
of hasty gathering of riches: “Qui festinat ad divitias, non erit
insons.”[379] The poets feign, that when Plutus (which is riches) is
sent from Jupiter, he limps, and goes slowly; but when he is sent from
Pluto, he runs, and is swift of foot; meaning, that riches gotten by
good means and just labor pace slowly; but when they come by the death
of others[380] (as by the course of inheritance, testaments, and the
like), they come tumbling upon a man. But it might be applied likewise
to Pluto, taking him for the devil; for when riches come from the devil
(as by fraud and oppression, and unjust means), they come upon speed.
The ways to enrich are many, and most of them foul: parsimony is one
of the best, and yet is not innocent; for it withholdeth men from works
of liberality and charity. The improvement of the ground is the most
natural obtaining of riches; for it is our great mother’s blessing, the
earth’s, but it is slow; and yet, where men of great wealth do stoop
to husbandry, it multiplieth riches exceedingly. I knew a nobleman,
in England, that had the greatest audits[381] of any man in my time,
a great grazier, a great sheep-master, a great timber-man, a great
collier, a great corn-master, a great lead-man, and so of iron, and a
number of the like points of husbandry; so as the earth seemed a sea
to him in respect of the perpetual importation. It was truly observed
by one, “That himself came very hardly to a little riches, and very
easily to great riches;” for when a man’s stock is come to that, that
he can expect the prime of markets,[382] and overcome those bargains,
which for their greatness are few men’s money, and be partner in the
industries of younger men, he cannot but increase mainly. The gains of
ordinary trades and vocations are honest, and furthered by two things,
chiefly: by diligence, and by a good name for good and fair dealing;
but the gains of bargains are of a more doubtful nature, when men shall
wait upon others’ necessity: broke by servants and instruments to draw
them on; put off others cunningly that would be better chapmen; and
the like practices, which are crafty and naught. As for the chopping
of bargains, when a man buys not to hold, but to sell over again,
that commonly grindeth double, both upon the seller and upon the
buyer. Sharings do greatly enrich, if the hands be well chosen that
are trusted. Usury is the certainest means of gain, though one of the
worst; as that whereby a man doth eat his bread, “in sudore vultûs
alieni;”[383] and, besides, doth plough upon Sundays; but yet certain
though it be, it hath flaws, for that the scriveners and brokers do
value unsound men to serve their own turn. The fortune, in being the
first in an invention, or in a privilege, doth cause sometimes a
wonderful overgrowth in riches, as it was with the first sugar-man[384]
in the Canaries; therefore, if a man can play the true logician, to
have as well judgment as invention, he may do great matters, especially
if the times be fit. He that resteth upon gains certain, shall hardly
grow to great riches; and he that puts all upon adventures, doth
oftentimes break and come to poverty; it is good, therefore, to
guard adventures with certainties that may uphold losses. Monopolies,
and coemption of wares for resale, where they are not restrained, are
great means to enrich; especially if the party have intelligence what
things are like to come into request, and so store himself beforehand.
Riches gotten by service, though it be of the best rise, yet when they
are gotten by flattery, feeding humors, and other servile conditions,
they may be placed amongst the worst. As for fishing for testaments
and executorships (as Tacitus saith of Seneca, “Testamenta et orbos
tanquam indagine capi”),[385] it is yet worse, by how much men submit
themselves to meaner persons than in service. Believe not much them
that seem to despise riches, for they despise them that despair of
them; and none worse when they come to them. Be not penny-wise; riches
have wings, and sometimes they fly away of themselves, sometimes they
must be set flying to bring in more. Men leave their riches either to
their kindred, or to the public; and moderate portions prosper best in
both. A great state left to an heir, is as a lure to all the birds of
prey round about to seize on him, if he be not the better stablished
in years and judgment; likewise, glorious gifts and foundations are
like sacrifices without salt, and but the painted sepulchres of alms,
which soon will putrefy and corrupt inwardly. Therefore, measure not
thine advancements by quantity, but frame them by measure, and defer
not charities till death; for, certainly, if a man weigh it rightly, he
that doth so is rather liberal of another man’s than of his own.