_The Voice of the Ages_
Records from all the past history of mankind from twenty-five
different races; the earliest being about 3500 B. C.
The Suppressions of History
(_From "The Ancient Lowly"_)
BY C. OSBORNE WARD
(American historian, who was forced to publish at his own
expense the results of his life-time researches into the early
history of the working class)
The great strikes and uprisings of the working people of the
ancient world are almost unknown to the living age. It matters
little how accounts of five immense strike-wars, involving
destruction of property and mutual slaughter of millions of
people, have been suppressed, or have otherwise failed to reach
us; the fact remains that people are absolutely ignorant of
these great events. A meagre sketch of Spartacus may be seen
in the encyclopedias, but it is always ruined and its interest
pinched and blighted by being classed with crime, its heroes
with criminals, its theme with desecration. Yet Spartacus was
one of the great generals of history; fully equal to Hannibal
and Napoleon, while his cause was much more just and infinitely
nobler, his life a model of the beautiful and virtuous, his
death an episode of surpassing grandeur.
Still more strange is it, that the great ten-years' war of
Eunus should be unknown. He marshalled at one time an army of
two hundred thousand soldiers. He manœuvered them and fought
for ten full years for liberty, defeating army after army
of Rome. Why is the world ignorant of this fierce, epochal
rebellion? Almost the whole matter is passed over in silence by
our histories of Rome. In these pages it will be read as news,
yet should a similar war rage in our day, against a similar
condition of slavery, its cause would not only be considered
just, but the combatants would have the sympathy and support of
the civilized world.
The great system of labor organization explained in these
pages must likewise be regarded as a chapter of news. The
portentous fact has lain in abeyance century after century,
with the human family in profound ignorance of an organization
of trades and other labor unions so powerful that for hundreds
of years they undertook and successfully conducted the business
of manufacture, of distribution, of purveying provisions to
armies, of feeding the inhabitants of the largest cities in the
world, of inventing, supplying and working the huge engines of
war, and of collecting customs and taxes--tasks confided to
their care by the state.
Our civilization has a blushingly poor excuse for its profound
ignorance of these facts; for the evidences have existed from
much before the beginning of our era.... They are growing fewer
and dimmer as their value rises higher in the estimation of a
thinking, appreciative, gradually awakening world.
Agis
BY PLUTARCH
(Greek historian, A. D. 50-120; author of numerous biographical
sketches. It has been said: He stands before us as the legate, the
ambassador, and the orator on behalf of those institutions whereby the
old-time men were rendered wise and virtuous)
When the love of gold and silver had once gained admittance
into the Lacedæmonian commonwealth, it was quickly followed by
avarice and baseness of spirit in the pursuit of it, and by
luxury, effeminacy and prodigality in the use. Then Sparta fell
from almost all her former virtue and repute....
For the rich men without scruple drew the estate into their own
hands, excluding the rightful heirs from their succession; and
all the wealth being centered upon the few, the generality were
poor and miserable. Honorable pursuits, for which there was
no longer leisure, were neglected; the state was filled with
sordid business, and with hatred and envy of the rich....
Agis, therefore, believing it a glorious action, as in truth
it was, to equalize and repeople the state, began to sound the
inclinations of the citizens. He found the young men disposed
beyond his expectation; they were eager to enter with him upon
the contest in the cause of virtue, and to fling aside, for
freedom's sake, their old manner of life, as readily as the
wrestler does his garment. But the old men, habituated and
confirmed in their vices, were most of them alarmed. These men
could not endure to hear Agis continually deploring the present
state of Sparta, and wishing she might be restored to her
ancient glory....
Agis, nevertheless, little regarding these rumours, took the
first occasion of proposing his measure to the council, the
chief articles of which were these: That every one should be
free from their debts; all the lands to be divided into equal
portions....
The people were transported with admiration of the young man's
generosity, and with joy that, after three hundred years'
interval, at last there had appeared a king worthy of Sparta.
But, on the other side, Leonidas was now more than ever averse,
being sensible that he and his friends would be obliged to
contribute with their riches, and yet all the honour and
obligation would redound to Agis. [Sparta had two kings,
Leonidas and Agis.]
From this time forward, as the common people followed Agis,
so the rich men adhered to Leonidas. They besought him not to
forsake their cause; and with persuasions and entreaties so far
prevailed with the council of Elders, whose power consisted in
preparing all laws before they were proposed to the people,
that the designed measure was rejected, though but by one vote.
[Attacked by his enemies, Agis sought refuge in a temple.]
Leonidas proceeded also to displace the ephors, and to choose
others in their stead; then he began to consider how he
might entrap Agis. At first, he endeavored by fair means to
persuade him to leave the sanctuary, and partake with him in
the kingdom. The people, he said, would easily pardon the
errors of a young man, ambitious of glory. But finding Agis was
suspicious, and not to be prevailed with to quit his sanctuary,
he gave up that design; yet what could not then be effected by
the dissimulation of an enemy, was soon after brought to pass
by the treachery of friends.
Amphares, Damochares, and Arcesilaus often visited Agis, and he
was so confident of their fidelity that after a while he was
prevailed on to accompany them to the baths, which were not
far distant, they constantly returning to see him safe again
in the temple. They were all three his familiars; and Amphares
had borrowed a great deal of plate and rich household stuff
from the mother of Agis, and hoped if he could destroy her and
the whole family, he might peaceably enjoy those goods. And
he, it is said, was the readiest of all to serve the purposes
of Leonidas, and being one of the ephors, did all he could to
incense the rest of his colleagues against Agis. These men,
therefore, finding that Agis would not quit his sanctuary, but
on occasion would venture from it to go to the bath, resolved
to seize him on the opportunity thus given them. And one day
as he was returning, they met and saluted him as formerly,
conversing pleasantly by the way, and jesting, as youthful
friends might, till coming to the turning of the street which
led to the prison, Amphares, by virtue of his office, laid his
hand on Agis, and told him, "You must go with me, Agis, before
the other ephors, to answer for your misdemeanors." At the same
time Damochares, who was a tall, strong man, drew his cloak
tight around his neck, and dragged him after by it, whilst the
others went behind to thrust him on. So that none of Agis'
friends being near to assist him, nor any one by, they easily
got him into the prison, where Leonidas was already arrived,
with a company of soldiers, who strongly guarded all the
avenues; the ephors also came in, with as many of the Elders as
they knew to be true to their party, being desirous to proceed
with some semblance of justice. And thus they bade him give
an account of his actions. To which Agis, smiling at their
dissimulation, answered not a word. Amphares told him it was
more seasonable for him to weep, for now the time was come in
which he should be punished for his presumption. Another of the
ephors, as though he would be more favorable, and offering as
it were an excuse, asked him whether he was not forced to what
he did by Agesilaus and Lysander. But Agis answered, he had not
been constrained by any man, nor had any other intent in what
he did but to follow the example of Lycurgus, and to govern
conformably to his laws. The same ephor asked him whether now
at least he did not repent his rashness. To which the young man
answered that though he were to suffer the extremest penalty
for it, yet he could never repent of so just and glorious a
design. Upon this they passed sentence of death on him, and
bade the officers carry him to the Dechas, as it is called, a
place in the prison where they strangle malefactors. And when
the officers would not venture to lay hands on him, and the
very mercenary soldiers declined it, believing it an illegal
and a wicked act to lay violent hands on a king, Damochares,
threatening and reviling them for it, himself thrust him into
the room.
For by this time the news of his being seized had reached many
parts of the city, and there was a concourse of people with
lights and torches about the prison gates, and in the midst of
them the mother and the grandmother of Agis, crying out with a
loud voice that their king ought to appear, and to be heard and
judged by the people. But this clamour, instead of preventing,
hastened his death; his enemies fearing, if the tumult should
increase, he might be rescued during the night out of their
hands.
Agis, being now at the point to die, perceived one of the
officers bitterly bewailing his misfortune. "Weep not, friend,"
said he, "for me, who die innocent, by the lawless act of
wicked men. My condition is much better than theirs." As soon
as he had spoken these words, not showing the least sign of
fear, he offered his neck to the noose.
The Labor Problem in Egypt
(_From the Book of Exodus_)
(Hebrew, B. C. Fourteenth Century; a record of one of the
earliest of labor disputes)
Pharaoh said, "Who is the Lord, that I should hearken unto his
voice to let Israel go? I know not the Lord, and moreover I
will not let Israel go.... Wherefore do ye, Moses and Aaron,
loose the people from their work? get you unto your burdens....
Let heavier work be laid upon the men, that they may labour
therein; and let them not regard lying words.... Ye are idle,
ye are idle; therefore ye say, Let us go and sacrifice to the
Lord. Go therefore now, and work; for there shall no straw be
given you, yet shall ye deliver the tale of bricks."
And the officers of the children of Israel did see that they
were in evil case, when it was said, "Ye shall not minish aught
from your bricks, your daily task."
And they met Moses and Aaron, who stood in the way, as they
came forth from Pharaoh: and they said unto them, "The Lord
look upon you and judge; because you have made our savour to
be abhorred in the eyes of Pharaoh, and in the eyes of his
servants, to put a sword in their hand to slay us."
And Moses returned unto the Lord, and said, "Lord, wherefore
hast thou evil entreated this people? Why is it that thou hast
sent me? For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in thy name, he
hath evil entreated this people; neither hast thou delivered
thy people at all."
Then the Lord said unto Moses, "Now shalt thou see what I will
do to Pharaoh: for with a strong hand shall he let them go, and
with a strong hand shall he drive them out of his land."
The People
BY TOMMASO CAMPANELLA
(Italian philosopher, 1568-1639. Translation by John Addington
Symonds)
The people is a beast of muddy brain
That knows not its own strength, and therefore stands
Loaded with wood and stone; the powerless hands
Of a mere child guide it with bit and rein;
One kick would be enough to break the chain,
But the beast fears, and what the child demands
It does; nor its own terror understands,
Confused and stupefied by bugbears vain.
Most wonderful! With its own hand it ties
And gags itself--gives itself death and war
For pence doled out by kings from its own store.
Its own are all things between earth and heaven;
But this it knows not; and if one arise
To tell this truth, it kills him unforgiven.
FROM ECCLESIASTES
(Hebrew, B.C. 200)
Then I returned and saw all oppressions that are done under the
sun: and behold, the tears of such as were oppressed, and they
had no comforter; and on the side of their oppressors there
was power, but they had no comforter. Wherefore I praised the
dead which are already dead more than the living which are yet
alive; yea, better than them both did I esteem him which hath
not yet been, who hath not seen the evil work that is done
under the sun.
Tiberius Gracchus
(_Tribune of the Roman People_)
BY PLUTARCH
(Greek, A.D. 50-120)
Tiberius, maintaining an honorable and just cause, and
possessed of eloquence sufficient to have made a less
creditable action appear plausible, was no safe or easy
antagonist, when, with the people crowding around the hustings,
he took his place and spoke in behalf of the poor. "The savage
beasts," said he, "in Italy, have their particular dens, they
have their places of repose and refuge; but the men who bear
arms, and expose their lives for the safety of their country,
enjoy in the meantime nothing in it but the air and light; and,
having no houses or settlements of their own, are constrained
to wander from place to place with their wives and children."
He told them that the commanders were guilty of a ridiculous
error, when, at the head of their armies, they exhorted the
common soldiers to fight for their sepulchers and altars; when
not any amongst so many Romans is possessed of either altar
or monument, neither have they any houses of their own, or
hearths of their ancestors to defend. They fought indeed and
were slain, but it was to maintain the luxury and the wealth of
other men. They were styled the masters of the world, but had
not one foot of ground they could call their own.
Captive Good Attending Captain Ill
BY EURIPIDES
(Athenian tragic poet, B.C. 480-406; the most modern of ancient
writers. Translation by John Addington Symonds)
Doth some one say that there be gods above?
There are not; no, there are not. Let no fool,
Led by the old false fable, thus deceive you.
Look at the facts themselves, yielding my words
No undue credence; for I say that kings
Kill, rob, break oaths, lay cities waste by fraud,
And doing thus are happier than those
Who live calm pious lives day after day.
How many little states that serve the gods
Are subject to the godless but more strong,
Made slaves by might of a superior army!
Poverty
BY ALCAEUS
(Greek lyric poet, B.C. 611-580; banished for his resistance to
tyrants. Translation by Sir William Jones)
The worst of ills, and hardest to endure,
Past hope, past cure,
Is Penury, who, with her sister-mate
Disorder, soon brings down the loftiest state,
And makes it desolate.
This truth the sage of Sparta told,
Aristodemus old,--
"Wealth makes the man." On him that's poor
Proud Worth looks down, and Honor shuts the door.
The Beggar's Complaint
(Ancient Japanese classic)
The heaven and earth they call so great,
For me are very small;
The sun and moon they call so bright,
For me ne'er shine at all.
Are all men sad, or only I?
And what have I obtained--
What good the gift of mortal life,
That prize so rarely gained--
If nought my chilly back protects
But one thin grass-cloth coat,
In tatters hanging like the weeds
That on the billows float?
If here in smoke-stained, darksome hut,
Upon the bare cold ground,
I make my wretched bed of straw,
And hear the mournful sound--
Hear how mine aged parents groan,
And wife and children cry,
Father and mother, children, wife,
Huddling in misery--
If in the rice-pan, nigh forgot,
The spider hangs its nest,
And from the hearth no smoke goes up
Where all is so unblest?
Shame and despair are mine from day to day,
But, being no bird, I cannot fly away.
Free Labor
BY HAGGAI
(Hebrew prophet, B.C. 515)
He that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with
holes.
Plutus
BY ARISTOPHANES
(Greek comedy writer and satirist; B.C. 450-380. There is probably not
a Socialist in the world who has not been asked the question: "Who
will do the dirty work?" It is interesting to see this difficulty set
forth in a comedy which was staged in Athens in the year 408 B.C.
Chremylus and Blepsidemus, two citizens, have taken in charge Plutus,
the god of wealth, who is blind. They have undertaken to cure him of
his blindness; but an old hag by the name of Poverty appears, and
offers to convince them that their success would mean a calamity to
the human race)
CHREMYLUS:--As matters now stand (who will dare contradict it?)
the life of us men is compos'd
Of a system where folly, absurdity, madness, ay, raving
downright is disclosed;
Since, how many a knave we see revel in wealth--the rich heap
of his ill-gotten store--
And how many a good man, by fortune unblest, with thee begging
bread at the door! (_Turns to Poverty._)
I say, then, there is but one thing to be done, and if we
succeed, what a prize
Will we bring to mankind! That thing it will be--to give Plutus
the use of his eyes.
POVERTY:--A pest on your prate, and palavering stuff! back!
begone with ye, blockheads, to school!
You pair of old dotards, you drivelling comrades in trifling
and playing the fool!
If the plan ye propose be accomplish'd at last nothing worse
could mankind e'er befall,
Than that Plutus should have the full use of his eyes, and
bestow himself equal on all!
See you not, that at once, to all arts there would be, to each
craft that you reckon, an end?
If these were exploded (so much to your joy), say who _then_
should there be, who would lend
To the forge, to the hammer, the adze or the loom--to the rule
or the mallet--his hand?
Not a soul! The mechanic, the carpenter, shipwright--would all
be expelled from the land.
Where would tailor, or cobbler, or dyer of leather, or
bricklay'r, or tanner be found?
Who would e'er condescend in this golden vacation, to till, for
his bread's sake, the ground?
BLEPSIDEMUS:--Hold, hold, jade! Whatever essentials of life in
your catalogue's column you string,
Our servants, of course, shall provide us.
POVERTY:--Your servants? and whence do you think _they_ shall spring?
BLEPSIDEMUS:--We shall buy them with cash--
POVERTY:--But with cash all the world as well as yourself is supplied!
Who will care about selling?
BLEPSIDEMUS:--Some dealer, no doubt, coming down from the Thessaly
side,
(A rare kidnapping nest) who may wish to secure a good bargain to
profit the trade.
POVERTY (_impatiently_):--You will not understand! In the lots of
mankind when this grand revolution is made
'Twill at once put an end to all wants--and of course then, the
kidnapper's business will cease:
For who will court danger, and hazard his life, when, grown rich,
he may live at his ease?
Thus each for himself will be forced to turn plowman, to dig and
to delve and to sweat;
Wearing out an existence more grievous by far than he ever
experienced yet.
CHREMYLUS:--Curses on you!
POVERTY:--You'll not have a bed to lie down on--no goods of the
sort will be seen!
Not a carpet to tread on--for who, pray, will weave one, when
well stock'd his coffers have been?
Farewell to your essences, perfumes, pastilles! When you lead
to the altar your bride
Farewell to your roseate veil's drooping folds, the bright hues
of its glittering pride!
Yet forsooth "to be rich"--say what is it, without all these
gew-gaws to swell the detail?
Now with me, every item that wish can suggest springs abundant
and never can fail;
For who, but myself, urges on to his toil, like a mistress, and
drives the mechanic?
If he flags, I but show him my face at the door, and he hies to
his work in a panic!
CHREMYLUS:--Pshaw! What good can _you_ bring but sores,
blisters and blains, on the wretch as he shivering goes
From the baths' genial clime driv'n forth to the cold, at the
certain expense of his toes?
What, but poor little urchins, whose stomachs are craving, and
little old beldames in shoals;
And lice by the thousand, mosquitoes and flies? (I can't count
you the cloud as it rolls!)
Which keep humming and buzzing about one, a language denying
the respite of sleep,
In a strain thus consoling--"Poor starveling, awake, tho to
hunger!"--yet up you must leap!
Add to this, that you treat us with rags to our backs and a
bundle of straw for a bed
(Woe betide the poor wretch on whose carcass the bugs of that
ravenous pallet have fed!)
For a carpet, a rotten old mat--for a pillow, a great stone
picked out of the street--
And for porridge, or bread, a mere leaf of radish, or stem of a
mallow, to eat.
The head that remains of some wreck of a pitcher, by way of a
seat you provide;
For the trough we make use of in kneading, we're driven to
shift with a wine barrel's side,--
And this, too, all broken and split:--in a word, your
magnificent gifts to conclude,
(_Ironically_) To mankind you indeed are a blessed dispenser of
mighty and manifold good!...
On my word, dame, your fav'rites are happily off, after
striving and toiling to save,
If at last they are able to levy enough to procure them a
cheque to the grave!
The Lawyer and the Farmer
(Egyptian; B.C. 1400, or earlier. A letter from a father to his
son, exhorting him to stick to the study of his profession)
It is told to me that thou hast cast aside learning, and givest
thyself to dancing; thou turnest thy face to the work in the
fields, and castest the divine words behind thee.
Behold, thou rememberest not the condition of the fellah
(farmer) when the harvest is taken over. The worms carry off
half the corn, and the hippopotamus devours the rest; mice
abound in the fields, and locusts arrive; the cattle devour,
the sparrows steal. How miserable is the lot of the fellah!
What remains on the threshing-floor, robbers finish it up. The
bronze ... are worn out, the horses die with threshing and
plowing. Then the scribe (lawyer) moors at the bank, who is
to take over the harvest for the government; the attendants
bear staves, the negroes carry palm sticks. They say, "Give
corn!" But there is none. They beat the fellah prostrate; they
bind him and cast him into the canal, throwing him headlong.
His wife is bound before him, his children are swung off; his
neighbors let them go, and flee to look after their corn.
But the scribe is the leader of labor for all; he reckons to
himself the produce in winter, and there is none that appoints
him his tale of produce. Behold, now thou knowest!
Farmer and Lawyer Again
(_From "The Vision of Piers Plowman"_)
BY WILLIAM LANGLAND
(One of the earliest of English social protests, a picture of
the misery of the workers of the fourteenth century)
Some were for ploughing, and played full seldom,
Set their seed and sowed their seed and sweated hard,
To win what wastrels with gluttony destroy....
There wandered a hundred in hoods of silk,
Serjeants they seemed, and served at the Bar,
Pleading the Law for pennies and for pounds,
Unlocking their lips never for love of our Lord.
Thou mightest better mete the mist on Malvern hills
Than get a mutter from their mouths--save thou show thy money!
The Agitator
BY ISAIAH
(Hebrew prophet, B.C. 740)
For Zion's sake will I not hold my peace,
And for Jerusalem's sake will I not rest,
Until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness,
And the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth.
Upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, have I set watchmen,
Who shall never hold their peace, day and night.
Go through, go through the gates;
Prepare ye the way of the people!
Lift up a standard to the peoples!
The Muckraker in Persia
BY NIZAMI
(Persian poet, A.D. 1200)
There was a king who oppressed his subjects. An informer came
to him, and said, "A certain old man has in private called thee
a tyrant, a disturber, and bloodthirsty." The king, enraged,
said, "Even now I put him to death." While the king made
preparations for the execution, a youth ran to the old man, and
said, "The king is ill-disposed to thee; hasten to assuage his
wrath." The sage performed his ablutions, took his shroud, and
went to the king. The tyrant, seeing him, clapped his hands
together, and with eye hungry for revenge, cried, "I hear thou
hast given loose to thy speech; thou hast called me revengeful,
an oppressive demon." The sage replied, "I have said worse of
thee than what thou repeatest. Old and young are in peril from
thy action; town and village are injured by thy ministry. Apply
thy understanding, and see if it be true; if it be not, slay me
on a gibbet. I am holding a mirror before thee; when it shows
thy blemishes truly, it is a folly to break the mirror. Break
thyself!"
The king saw the rectitude of the sage, and his own
crookedness. He said, "Remove his burial spices, and his
shroud; bring to him sweet perfumes, and the robe of honor." He
became a just prince, cherishing his subjects. Bring forward
thy rough truth; truth from thee is victory; it shall shine as
a pearl.
The System
BY JEREMIAH
(Hebrew prophet, B.C. 630)
For among my people are found wicked men; they lay wait, as he
that setteth snares; they set a trap, they catch men. As a cage
is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit; therefore
they are become great, and waxen rich. They are waxen fat, they
shine; yea, they overpass the deeds of the wicked; they judge
not the cause, the cause of the fatherless, yet they prosper;
and the right of the needy do they not judge. Shall I not visit
them for these things? saith the Lord; shall not my soul be
avenged on such a nation as this? A wonderful and horrible
thing is committed in the land; the prophets prophesy falsely,
and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love to
have it so; and what will ye do in the end thereof?
Grafters in Athens
(_From "The Frogs"_)
BY ARISTOPHANES
(Greek comedy, produced B.C. 405)
Keep silence--keep peace--and let all the profane
From our holy solemnity duly refrain;
Whose souls unenlightened by taste, are obscure;
Whose poetical notions are dark and impure;
Whose theatrical conscience
Is sullied by nonsense;
Who never were train'd by the mighty Cratinus
In mystical orgies poetic and vinous;
Who delight in buffooning and jests out of season;
Who promote the designs of oppression and treason;
Who foster sedition, and strife, and debate;
All traitors, in short, to the stage and the state;
Who surrender a fort, or in private, export
To places and harbors of hostile resort,
Clandestine consignments of cables and pitch;
In the way the Thorycion grew to be rich
From a scoundrelly dirty collector of tribute!
All such we reject and severely prohibit:
All statesmen retrenching the fees and the salaries
Of theatrical bards, in revenge for the railleries,
And jests, and lampoons, of this holy solemnity,
Profanely pursuing their personal enmity,
For having been flouted, and scoff'd, and scorn'd,
All such are admonish'd and heartily warn'd!
We warn them once,
We warn them twice,
We warn and admonish--we warn them thrice,
To conform to the law,
To retire and withdraw--
While the Chorus again with the formal saw
(Fixt and assign'd to the festive day)
Move to the measure and march away!
Pure Food Agitation
BY MARTIN LUTHER
(German religious reformer, 1483-1564)
They have learned the trick of placing such commodities as
pepper, ginger, saffron, in damp vaults or cellars in order
to increase the weight.... Nor is there a single article of
trade whatever out of which they cannot make unfair profit by
false measuring, counting or weighing. They produce artificial
colors, or they put the pretty things at the top and bottom
and the ugly ones in the middle; and indeed there is no end to
their trickery, and no one tradesman will trust another, for
they know each other's ways.
Wall Street
BY HABAKKUK
(Hebrew prophet. B.C. 600)
They take up all of them with the angle, they catch them in
their net, and gather them in their drag; therefore they
sacrifice unto their nets, and burn incense unto their drags;
because by them their portion is fat, and their meat plenteous.
BY MARTIAL
(Latin poet, A.D. 43-104)
If you are a poor man now, Aemilianus, a poor man you will
always be. Nowadays, riches are bestowed on no one but the
rich.
BY CATO, THE CENSOR
(Latin, B.C. 234-149)
Small thieves lie in towers fastened to wooden blocks; big ones
strut about in gold and silver.
Prosperity
(_From the Book of Job_)
(Hebrew, B.C. Fourth Century)
Thou hast taken pledges of thy brother for nought, and stripped
the naked of their clothing. Thou hast not given water to the
weary to drink, and thou hast withholden bread from the hungry.
But as for the mighty man, he had the earth; and the honourable
man, he dwelt in it. Thou hast sent widows away empty, and the
arms of the fatherless have been broken.
The Leading Citizen
BY HORACE
(Latin poet, B.C. 65-8. Translation by John Milton)
Whom do we count a good man? Whom but he
Who keeps the laws and statutes of the senate,
Who judges in great suits and controversies,
Whose witness and opinion wins the cause?
But his own house, and the whole neighborhood,
Sees his foul inside through his whited skin.
Hong's Experiences in Hades
BY IM BANG
(Korean poet, 1640-1722)
The next hell had inscribed on it, "Deceivers." I saw in it
many scores of people, with ogres that cut the flesh from their
bodies, and fed it to starving demons. These ate and ate, and
the flesh was cut and cut till only the bones remained. When
the winds of hell blew, then flesh returned to them; then
metal snakes and copper dogs crowded in to bite them and suck
their blood. Their screams of pain made the earth to tremble.
The guides said to me, "When these offenders were on earth
they held high office, and while they pretended to be true
and good they received bribes in secret and were doers of all
evil. As Ministers of State they ate the fat of the land and
sucked the blood of the people, and yet advertised themselves
as benefactors and were highly applauded. While in reality
they lived as thieves, they pretended to be holy, as Confucius
and Mencius were holy. They were deceivers of the world, and
robbers, and so are punished thus."
Monopolies
BY MARTIN LUTHER
(A picture of the conditions which brought on the Peasants' War
in Germany, 1525)
Before all, if the princes and lords wish to fulfill the duties
of their office they must prohibit and banish the vicious
system of monopolies, which is altogether unendurable in town
or country. As for the trading companies, they are thoroughly
corrupt and made up of great injustices. They have every sort
of commodity in their own power and they do with them just as
they please, raise or lower the prices at their own convenience
and crush and ruin all the small shop people--just as the pike
does with the small fish in the water--as if they were lords
over God's creatures and exempt from all laws of authority and
religion.... How can it be godly and just that in so short a
time a man should grow so rich that he can outbid kings and
emperors? They have brought things to such a pass that all
the rest of the world must carry on business with risk and
damage, gaining today, losing tomorrow, while they continually
grow richer and richer, and make up for their losses by higher
profits; so it is no wonder that they are appropriating to
themselves the riches of the whole world.
Intemperate Speech
(_From the Epistle of James_)
(A.D. 100 to 120)
Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that
shall come upon you. Your riches are corrupted, and your
garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver are cankered;
and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall
eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasures
together for the last days. Behold, the hire of the laborers
who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back
by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are
entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. Ye have lived in
pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your
hearts, as in a day of slaughter. Ye have condemned and killed
the just: and he doth not resist you. Be patient, therefore,
brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman
waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long
patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. Be
ye also patient; stablish your hearts; for the coming of the
Lord draweth nigh.
Government
BY MARCUS AURELIUS
(Roman emperor and philosopher, A.D. 121-180)
And these your professed politicians, the only true practical
philosophers of the world (as they think themselves) so full
of affected gravity, or such professed lovers of virtue and
honesty, what wretches be they in very deed; how vile and
contemptible in themselves! O man, what ado dost thou make!
Murder by Statute
(_From "The Sayings of Mencius"_)
(Chinese classic, B.C. 300)
King Hwuy of Leang said, "I wish quietly to receive your
instructions." Mencius replied, "Is there any difference between
killing a man with a stick, and with a sword?" "There is not,"
was the answer.
Mencius continued, "Is there any difference between doing it
with a sword and with government measures?" "There is not," was
the answer again.
Mencius then said, "In your stalls there are fat beasts; in
your stables there are fat horses. But your people have the
look of hunger, and in the fields are those who have died of
famine. This is leading on beasts to devour men. Beasts devour
one another, and men hate them for doing so. When he who is
called the parent of the people conducts his government so as
to be chargeable with leading on beasts to devour men, where is
that parental relation to the people?"
Rebuking a Tyrant
BY SADI
(Persian poet, A.D. 1200)
In a certain year I was sitting retired in the great mosque at
Damascus, at the head of the tomb of Yahiya the prophet (on
whom be peace!). One of the kings of Arabia, who was notorious
for his injustice, happened to come on a pilgrimage, and having
performed his devotions, he uttered the following words: "The
poor and the rich are servants of this earth, and those who are
richest have the greatest wants." He then looked towards me,
and said, "Because dervishes are strenuous and sincere in their
commerce with heaven, unite your prayers with mine, for I am in
dread of a powerful enemy."
I replied, "Show mercy to the weak peasant, that you may not
experience difficulty from a strong enemy. It is criminal to
crush the poor and defenceless subjects with the arm of
power. He liveth in dread who befriendeth not the poor; for
should his foot slip, no one layeth hold of his hand. Whosoever
soweth bad seed, and looketh for good fruit, tortureth his
imagination in vain, making a false judgment of things.
Take the cotton out of thine ear, and distribute justice to
mankind; for if thou refusest justice, there will be a day of
retribution.
"The children of Adam are limbs of one another, and are all
produced from the same substance; when the world gives pain to
one member, the others also suffer uneasiness. Thou who art
indifferent to the sufferings of others deservest not to be
called a man."
[Illustration: THE DESPOTIC AGE
ISIDORE KONTI (_American sculptor, born 1862; group from the
Buffalo Exposition_)]
[Illustration: THE SEA OF BLOOD
"COURAGE, YOUR MAJESTY, ONLY ONE STEP MORE"
(_Example of Russian cartooning, published at the height of the
Revolution of 1905_)]
The Eloquent Peasant
(Egyptian, B.C. 2000 or earlier)
An interesting primitive protest against injustice is the story
of the Eloquent Peasant, which was one of the most popular of
ancient Egyptian tales, and is found in scores of different
papyri. The story narrates how a peasant named Rensi was robbed
of his asses by the henchmen of a certain grand steward. In
spite of all threats the peasant persisted in appealing against
the robber to the grand steward himself. The scene is described
in "Social Forces and Religion in Ancient Egypt," by James
Henry Breasted, as follows:
"It is a tableau which epitomizes ages of social history in the
East: on the one hand, the brilliant group of the great man's
sleek and subservient suite, the universal type of the official
class; and, on the other, the friendless and forlorn figure
of the despoiled peasant, the pathetic personification of the
cry for social justice. This scene is one of the earliest
examples of that Oriental skill in setting forth abstract
principles, so wonderfully illustrated later in the parables
of Jesus. Seeing that the grand steward makes no reply, the
peasant makes another effort to save his family and himself
from the starvation which threatens them. He steps forward and
with amazing eloquence addresses the great man in whose hands
his case now rests, promising him a fair voyage as he embarks
on the canal, and voicing the fame of the grand steward's
benevolence, on which he had reckoned. 'For thou art the father
of the orphan, the husband of the widow, the brother of the
forsaken, the kilt of the motherless. Let me put thy name in
this land above every good law, O leader free from avarice,
great man free from littleness, who destroys falsehood and
brings about truth. Respond to the cry which my mouth utters;
when I speak, hear thou. Do justice, thou who art praised, whom
the praised praise. Relieve my misery. Behold me, I am heavy
laden; prove me, lo I am in sorrow.'"
To follow the account of the incident in other records, the
grand steward is so much pleased with the peasant's eloquence
that he goes to the king and tells him about it. "My Lord, I
have found one of these peasants, excellent of speech, in very
truth; stolen are his goods, and he has come to complain to me
of the matter."
His majesty says, "As thou wishest that I may see health,
lengthen out his complaint, without reply to any of his
speeches! He who desireth him to continue speaking should be
silent; behold, bring us his words in writing that we may
listen to them."
So he keeps the peasant pleading for many days. The story
quotes nine separate speeches, of constantly increasing
bitterness and pathos. The peasant is beaten by the servants of
the grand steward, but still he comes. "Thou art appointed to
hear causes, to judge two litigants, to ward off the robber.
But thou makest common cause with the thief.... Thou art
instructed, thou art educated, thou art taught--but not for
robbery. Thou art accustomed to do like all men, and thy kin
are likewise ensnared. Thou the rectitude of all men, art the
chief transgressor of the whole land. The gardener of evil
waters his domain with iniquity that his domain may bring forth
falsehood, in order to flood the estate with wickedness."
In spite of his eloquence, the grand steward remains unmoved.
The peasant appeals to the gods of Justice; and in the ninth
address he threatens to make his plea to the god Anubis, who
is the god of the dead--meaning thereby that he will commit
suicide. None of the extant papyri informs us as to the outcome
of the whole proceedings.
Prayers Without Answer
(_From The Iliad_)
BY HOMER
(Greek epic poet, B.C. 700?)
Prayers are Jove's daughters of celestial race,
Lame are their feet, and wrinkled is their face;
With homely mien and with dejected eyes,
Constant they follow where injustice flies.
Injustice, suave, erect, and unconfined,
Sweeps the wide earth, and tramples o'er mankind--
While prayers to heal her wrongs move slow behind.
The Suffering of Women
BY HERBERT SPENCER
(English philosopher, 1820-1903)
In the history of humanity as written, the saddest part
concerns the treatment of women; and had we before us its
unwritten history we should find this part still sadder. I
say the saddest part because there have been many things
more conspicuously dreadful--cannibalism, the torturing of
prisoners, the sacrifice of victims to ghosts and gods--these
have been but occasionally; whereas the brutal treatment of
woman has been universal and constant. If looking first at
their state of subjection among the semi-civilized we pass to
the uncivilized, and observe the lives of hardship borne by
nearly all of them; if we then think what must have gone on
among those still ruder peoples who, for so many thousands of
years roamed over the uncultivated earth; we shall infer that
the amount of suffering which has been and is borne by women is
utterly beyond imagination.
Divorce in Ancient Babylon
(_From the Code of Hammurabi_)
(B.C. 2250)
Anu and Baal called me, Hammurabi, the exalted prince, the
worshipper of the gods, to cause justice to prevail in the
land, to destroy the wicked and evil, to prevent the strong
from oppressing the weak, to enlighten the land and to further
the welfare of the people. Hammurabi, the governor named by
Baal am I, who brought about plenty and abundance.
§ 142: If a woman shall hate her husband and say: "Thou shalt
not have me," they shall inquire into her antecedents for her
defects.... If she have not been a careful mistress, have
gadded about, have neglected her house and have belittled her
husband, they shall throw that woman into the water.
The Parable of the Hungry Dog
(_From the Gospel of Buddha_)
(Hindu Bible, B.C. 600)
There was a wicked tyrant; and the god Indra, assuming the
shape of a hunter, came down upon earth with the demon Matali,
the latter appearing as a dog of enormous size. Hunter and dog
entered the palace, and the dog howled so woefully that the
royal buildings shook with the sound to their very foundations.
The tyrant had the awe-inspiring hunter brought before his
throne and inquired after the cause of the terrible bark. The
hunter said, "The dog is hungry," whereupon the frightened
king ordered food for him. All the food prepared at the royal
banquet disappeared rapidly in the dog's jaws, and still he
howled with portentous significance. More food was sent for,
and all the royal store-houses were emptied, but in vain. Then
the tyrant grew desperate and asked: "Will nothing satisfy the
cravings of that woeful beast?" "Nothing," replied the hunter,
"nothing except perhaps the flesh of all his enemies." "And
who are his enemies?" anxiously asked the tyrant. The hunter
replied: "The dog will howl as long as there are people
hungry in the kingdom, and his enemies are those that practice
injustice and oppress the poor." The oppressor of the people,
remembering his evil deeds, was seized with remorse, and for
the first time in his life he began to listen to the teachings
of righteousness.
The Nature of Kings
(_From the First Book of Samuel_)
(Hebrew, B.C. Eleventh Century)
And Samuel told all the words of the Lord unto the people that
asked of him a king. And he said: "This will be the manner of
the king that shall reign over you; he will take your sons,
and appoint them for himself, for his chariots, and to be
his horsemen; and some shall run before his chariots. And he
will appoint him captains over thousands, and captains over
fifties; and will set them to ear his ground, and to reap his
harvest, and to make his instruments of war, and instruments
of his chariots. And he will take your daughters to be
confectionaries, and to be cooks, and to be bakers. And he will
take your fields, and your vineyards, and your oliveyards, even
the best of them, and give them to his servants. And he will
take the tenth of your seed, and of your vineyards, and give
to his officers, and to his servants. And he will take your
menservants, and your maidservants, and your goodliest young
men, and your asses, and put them to his work. He will take the
tenth of your sheep; and ye shall be his servants. And ye shall
cry out in that day because of your king which ye shall have
chosen you; and the Lord will not hear you in that day."
King Yu's Misgovernment
(_From the She-ching_)
(Chinese classic, B.C. 1000)
A fish in some translucent lake
Must ever live to fear a prey
He cannot hide himself away
From those who come the fish to take.
I, too, may not escape the eyes
Of those who cause these miseries;
My sorrowing heart must grieve to know
My country's deep distress and woe.
Slavery
(_From the Edda_)
(Scandinavian legends of great antiquity, collected, A.D. 1100,
by Saemund)
King Frothi called his slaves renowned for strength, Fenia and
Menia, and bade them grind for gold. The maidens ground through
many years, they ground endless treasures; but at last they
grew weary. Then Frothi said, "Grind on! Rest ye not, sleep ye
not, longer than the cuckoo is silent, or a verse can be sung."
The weary slaves ground on, till lo! from the mighty mill is
poured forth an army of men. Now lies Frothi slain amid his
gold. Now is Frothi's peace forever ended.
The Power of Justice
BY MANU
(Hindu poet, B.C. 1200)
Iniquity, committed in this world, produces not fruit
immediately, but, like the earth, in due season, and advancing
by little and little, it eradicates the man who committed it.
He grows rich for a while through unrighteousness; then he
beholds good things; then it is that he vanquishes his foes;
but he perishes at length from his whole root upwards.
Justice, being destroyed, will destroy; being preserved, will
preserve; it must never therefore be violated. Beware, O judge!
lest justice, being overturned, overturn both us and thyself.
Legislators
BY ISAIAH
(Hebrew prophet, B.C. 740)
Woe unto them that decree unrighteous decrees, and that write
grievousness which they have prescribed; to turn aside the
needy from judgment, and to take away the right from the poor
of my people, that widows may be their prey, and that they
may rob the fatherless! And what will ye do in the day of
visitation, and in the desolation which shall come from far?
to whom will ye flee for help? and where will ye leave your
glory? Without me they shall bow down under the prisoners, and
they shall fall under the slain. For all this his anger is not
turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.
Concerning Wealth
HESIOD
(Greek poet, B.C. 650)
Who, or by open force, or secret stealth,
Or perjured wiles, amasses wealth,
(Such many are, whom thirst of gain betrays)
The gods, all seeing, shall o'ercloud his days;
His wife, his children, and his friends shall die,
And, like a dream, his ill-got riches fly.
(_From the Instructions of Ptah-Hotep_)
(Egyptian, B.C. 3550; the oldest book in the world)
If thou be great, after being of no account, and hast gotten
riches after squalor, being foremost in these in the city, and
hast knowledge concerning useful matters, so that promotion is
come unto thee; then swathe not thine heart in thine hoard, for
thou art become a steward of the endowment of the God. Thou art
not the last, others shall be thine equal, and to them shall
come what has come to thee.
(_From the Icelandic, Eleventh Century_)
I saw the well-filled barns
Of the child of wealth;
Now leans he on the staff of the beggar.
Thus are riches,
As the glance of an eye,
They are an inconstant friend.
BY VIRGIL
(Latin epic poet, B.C. 70-19)
Curst greed of gold, what crimes thy tyrant power has caused!
(_From the "Antigone" of Sophocles_)
(Greek tragic poet, B.C. 440)
No such ill device
Ever appeared, as money to mankind:
This is it that sacks cities, this routs out
Men from their homes, and trains and turns astray
The minds of honest mortals, setting them
Upon base actions; this revealed to men
Habits of all misdoing, and cognizance
Of every work of wickedness.
(_From the Book of Good Counsels_)
(Sanscrit, B.C. 300)
Wealth is friends, home, father, brother, title to respect, and fame;
Yea, and wealth is held for wisdom--that it should be so is shame.
(_From the "Medea" of Euripides_)
(Greek tragic poet, B.C. 431)
Speak not so hastily: the gods themselves
By gifts are swayed, as fame relates; and gold
Hath a far greater influence o'er the souls
Of mortals than the most persuasive words.
(_From "The Convivio" of Dante Alighieri_)
(Italian epic poet, 1265-1321)
I affirm that gain is precisely that which comes oftener to the
bad than to the good; for illegitimate gains never come to the
good at all, because they reject them. And lawful gains rarely
come to the good, because, since much anxious care is needful
thereto, and the anxious care of the good man is directed to
weightier matters, rarely does the good man give sufficient
attention thereto. Wherefore it is clear that in every way the
advent of these riches is iniquitous....
Let us give heed to the life of them who chase riches, and see
in what security they live when they have gathered of them, how
content they are, how reposeful! And what else, day by day,
imperils and slays cities, countries and single persons so much
as the new amassing of wealth by anyone? Which amassing reveals
new longings, the goal of which may not be reached without
wrong to someone....
Wherefore the baseness of riches is manifest enough by reason
of all their characteristics, and so a man of right appetite
and of true knowledge never loves them; and not loving them
does not unite himself to them, but ever wishes them to be far
removed from him, save as they be ordained to some necessary
service....
The Perfect City
(_From "The Republic" of Plato_)
(Greek philosopher, B.C. 429-347)
We have, it seems, discovered other things, which our guardians
must by all means watch against, that they may nowise escape
their notice and steal into the city.
What kinds of things are these?
Riches, said I, and poverty.
Concerning Independence
BY LUCRETIUS
(Latin poet, B.C. 95-52)
But if men would live up to reason's rules,
They would not bow and scrape to wealthy fools.
(_From The Hitopadesa_)
(Hindu religious work, B.C. 250)
It is better to abandon life than flatter the base.
Impoverishment is better than luxury through another's wealth.
Not to attend at the door of the wealthy, and not to use the
voice of petition, these imply the best life of a man.
BY XENOPHON
(Greek historian, B.C. Fourth Century)
If you perfume a slave and a freeman, the difference of their
birth produces none in the smell; and the scent is perceived as
soon in the one as the other; but the odor of honorable toil,
as it is acquired with great pains and application, is ever
sweet and worthy of a brave man.
BY DANTE ALIGHIERI
(Italian epic poet, 1265-1321)
What! You say a horse is noble because it is good in itself,
and the same you say of a falcon or a pearl; but a man shall be
called noble because his ancestors were so? Not with words, but
with knives must one answer such a beastly notion.
BY OMAR KHAYYAM
(Persian poet, Eleventh Century)
In this world he who possesses a morsel of bread, and some
nest in which to shelter himself, who is master or slave of no
man, tell that man to live content; he possesses a very sweet
existence.
Oh! Freedom
(_Negro Slave Song_)
Oh! Freedom, oh! Freedom,
Oh! Freedom, over me;
And before I'll be a slave
I'll be buried in my grave,
And go home to my God
And be free.
Fredome
BY JOHN BARBOUR
(English poet, Fourteenth Century)
A! fredome is a nobill thing!
Fredome mayse man to haiff liking!
Fredome all solace to man giffis:
He levys at ese that frely levys;
A noble hart may haiff nane ease,
Na ellys nocht that may him plese,
Gyff fredome failythe: for fre liking
Is yearnyt ow'r all othir thing
Na he, that ay hase levyt fre,
May nocht knaw weill the propyrte,
The angry, na the wretchyt dome,
That is cowplyt to foule thyrldome.
Bot gyff he had assayit it,
Than all perquer he suld it wyt;
And suld think fredome mar to pryse
Than all the gold in warld that is.
A Home of Righteousness
(_Ancient Greek Inscription_)
Piety has raised this house from the first foundation even
to the lofty roof; for Macedonius fashioned not his wealth
by heaping up from the possessions of others with plundering
sword, nor has any poor man here wept over his vain and
profitless toil, being robbed of just hire; and as rest from
labor is kept inviolate by the just man, so let the works of
pious mortals endure.
Palaces
(_From the Book of Enoch_)
(Hebrew work of the Second Century, B.C., preserved only in the
Ethiopic tongue)
Woe unto you who despise the humble dwelling and inheritance
of your fathers! Woe unto you who build your palaces with the
sweat of others! Each stone, each brick of which it is built,
is a sin!
Pride in Poverty
BY CONFUCIUS
(Chinese philosopher, B. C. 500)
Riches and honor are what men desire; but if they attain to
them by improper ways, they should not continue to hold them.
Poverty and low estate are what men dislike; but if they are
brought to such condition by improper ways, they should not
feel shame for it.
Millionaires in Rome
BY CICERO
(Latin statesman and orator, B. C. 106-43)
As to their money, and their splendid mansions, and their
wealth, and their lordship, and the delights by which they are
chiefly attracted, never in truth have I ranked them amongst
things good or desirable; inasmuch as I saw for a certainty
that in the abundance of these things men longed most for the
very things wherein they abounded. For never is the thirst of
cupidity filled nor sated. And not only are they tortured by
the longing to increase their possessions, but they are also
tortured by fear of losing them.
The Ruling Classes
BY EZEKIEL
(Hebrew prophet, B. C. 600)
The word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, prophesy
against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy and say unto them,
Thus saith the Lord God unto the shepherds: Woe be to the
shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves! Should not the
shepherds feed the flocks? Ye eat the fat, and ye clothe you
with the wool, ye kill them that are fed: but ye feed not the
flock. The diseased have ye not strengthened, neither have
ye healed that which was sick, neither have ye bound up that
which was broken, neither have ye brought again that which was
driven away, neither have ye sought that which was lost; but
with force and with cruelty have ye ruled them. And they were
scattered, because there is no shepherd.... My sheep wandered
through all the mountains, and upon every high hill; yea, my
flock was scattered upon all the face of the earth, and none
did search or seek after them. Therefore ye shepherds, hear the
word of the Lord; as I live, saith the Lord God, ... Behold,
I am against the shepherds; and I will require my flock at
their hand.... I will feed my flock, and I will cause them to
lie down.... And they shall no more be a prey to the heathen,
neither shall the beast of the land devour them; but they shall
dwell safely, and none shall make them afraid. And ye my flock,
the flock of my pasture, are men, and I am your God, saith the
Lord God.
Ladies of Fashion
BY ISAIAH
(Hebrew prophet, B.C. 740)
The Lord standeth up to plead, and standeth to judge the
people. The Lord will enter into judgment with the ancients
of his people, and the princes thereof; for ye have eaten up
the vineyard; the spoil of the poor is in your houses. What
mean ye that ye beat my people to pieces, and grind the faces
of the poor? saith the Lord God of Hosts. Moreover the Lord
saith, Because the daughters of Zion are haughty, and walk with
stretched forth necks and wanton eyes, walking and mincing
as they go, and making a tinkling with their feet; therefore
the Lord will smite with a scab the crown of the head of the
daughters of Zion, and the Lord will discover their secret
parts. In that day the Lord will take away the bravery of
their tinkling ornaments about their feet, and their cauls,
and their round tires like the moon, the chains, and the
bracelets, and the mufflers, the bonnets, and the ornaments of
the legs, and the headbands, and the tablets, and the earrings,
the rings, and nose jewels, the changeable suits of apparel,
and the mantles, and the wimples, and the crisping pins, the
glasses, and the fine linen, and the hoods, and the veils. And
it shall come to pass that instead of sweet smell there shall
be stink; and instead of a girdle a rent; and instead of well
set hair, baldness; and instead of a stomacher a girding of
sackcloth; and burning instead of beauty. Thy men shall fall
by the sword, and thy mighty in the war. And her gates shall
lament and mourn; and she being desolate shall sit upon the
ground.
Concerning Justice
(Ancient Hindu Proverb)
Justice is so dear to the heart of Nature, that if in the
last day one atom of injustice were found, the universe would
shrivel like a snake-skin to cast it off forever.
BY MARCUS AURELIUS
(Roman emperor, A.D. 121-180)
In the whole constitution of man, I see not any virtue contrary
to justice, whereby it may be resisted and opposed.
BY SADI
(Persian poet, A.D. 1200)
Take heed that he weep not; for the throne of the Almighty is
shaken to and fro when the orphan sets a-crying. Beware of the
groans of the wounded souls, since the hidden sore will at
length break out; oppress not to the utmost a single heart, for
a single sigh has power to overset a whole world.
(_From "The Koran"_)
(Bible of Mohammedanism; Arabic, A.D. 600)
Justice is an unassailable fortress, built on the brow of
a mountain which cannot be overthrown by the violence of
torrents, nor demolished by the force of armies.
"Do you desire," said Abdallah, "to bring the praise of mankind
upon your action? Then desire not unjustly, or even by your
right, to grasp that which belongs to another."
(Arabian proverb, Sixteenth Century)
The exercise of equity for one day is equal to sixty years
spent in prayer.
BY NINTOKU
(Japanese emperor, Fourth Century)
If the people are poor, I am the poorest.
Solon
BY PLUTARCH
(Greek historian, A.D. 50-120)
The Athenians fell into their old quarrels about the
government, there being as many different parties as there
were diversities in the country. The Hill quarter favoured
democracy, the Plain, oligarchy, and those that lived by the
Seaside stood for a mixed sort of government, and so hindered
either of the other parties from prevailing. And the disparity
of fortune between the rich and the poor at that time also
reached its height; so that the city seemed to be in a truly
dangerous condition, and there appeared no other means for
freeing it from disturbances and settling it but a despotic
power. All the people were indebted to the rich; and either
they tilled their land for their creditors, paying them a sixth
part of the increase, or else they engaged their body for
the debt, and might be seized, and either sent into slavery
at home, or sold to strangers; some (for no law forbade it)
were forced to sell their children, or fly their country to
avoid the cruelty of their creditors; but the most part and
the bravest of them began to combine together and encourage
one another to stand it, to choose a leader, to liberate the
condemned debtors, divide the land, and change the government.
Then the wisest of the Athenians, perceiving Solon was of all
men the only one not implicated in the troubles, that he had
not joined in the exactions of the rich, and was not involved
in the necessities of the poor, pressed him to succour the
commonwealth and compose the differences....
The first thing which he settled was, that what debts remained
should be forgiven, and no man, for the future, should engage
the body of his debtor for security.
Concerning Land
BY SOLON
(Greek lawgiver, B.C. 639-559)
The mortgage stones that covered her, by me
Removed, the land that was a slave is free.
DEUTERONOMY
(Hebrew, B.C. 700?)
These are the statutes and judgments, which ye shall observe to
do in the land, which the Lord God of thy fathers giveth thee
to possess it, all the days that ye live upon the earth.... At
the end of every seven years thou shalt make a release. And
this is the manner of the release: Every creditor that lendeth
ought unto his neighbor shall release it, he shall not exact it
of his neighbor, or of his brother; because it is called the
Lord's release.
LEVITICUS
(Hebrew law-book, B.C. 700?)
And the Lord spake unto Moses in Mount Sinai, saying: ... "The
land shall not be sold for ever; for the land is mine; for ye
are strangers and sojourners with me."
(_From, "Discourse on the Origin of Inequality"_)
BY JEAN JACQUES ROUSSEAU
(French novelist and philosopher, 1712-1778; father of the
French Revolution)
The first man who, having enclosed a piece of ground, bethought
himself of saying, _This is mine_, and found people simple
enough to believe him, was the real founder of civil society.
From how many crimes, wars and murders, from how many horrors
and misfortunes might not any one have saved mankind, by
pulling up the stakes, or filling up the ditch, and crying to
his fellows, "Beware of listening to this impostor; you are
undone if you once forget that the fruits of the earth belong
to us all, and the earth itself to nobody."
Radicalism
BY CONFUCIUS
(Chinese philosopher, B.C. 500)
Things have their root and their completion. It cannot be that
when the root is neglected, what springs from it will be well
ordered.
Seeking Causes
BY PLATO
(Greek philosopher and poet, B.C. 428-347)
Neither drugs nor charms nor burnings will touch a deep-lying
political sore any more than a deep bodily one; but only right
and utter change of constitution; and they do but lose their
labor who think that by any tricks of law they can get the
better of those mischiefs of commerce, and see not that they
hew at a hydra.
Concerning Usury[A]
[A] As used in the Bible, and other ancient writings, the
word usury means, not excessive interest-taking, but all
interest-taking whatever.
(_From "The Koran"_)
(Arabic, A.D. 600)
To him who is of kin to thee give his due, and to the poor and
to the wayfarer: this will be best for those who seek the face
of God; and with them it shall be well.
Whatever ye put out at usury to increase it with the substance
of others shall have no increase from God: but whatever ye
shall give in alms, as seeking the face of God, shall be
doubled to you.
(_From the Psalms_)
(Hebrew, B.C. 200)
Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? Who shall dwell in thy
holy hill?
He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and
speaketh the truth in his heart....
He that putteth his money not out to usury, nor taketh reward
against the innocent. He that doeth these things shall never be
moved.
BY ARISTOTLE
(Greek philosopher, B.C. Fourth Century)
Usury is the most reasonably detested of all forms of
money-making; it is most against nature.
(_From "Essay on Riches"_)
BY FRANCIS BACON, LORD VERULAM
(English philosopher and statesman, 1561-1626)
The ways to enrich are many, and most of them foul....
Usury is the certainest means of gain, though one of the
worst; as that whereby a man doth eat his bread with sweat of
another's face, and besides, doth plough upon Sundays.
Solidarity
BY MARCUS AURELIUS
(Roman emperor, A.D. 121-180)
As thou thyself, whoever thou art, wert made for the perfection
and consummation of a common society; so must every action of
thine tend to the perfection and consummation of a life that
is truly sociable. Whatever action of thine that, either
immediately or afar off, hath not reference to the common
good, that is an exorbitant and disorderly action; yea, it is
seditious; as one among the people who from a general consent
and unity should factiously divide and separate himself.
Socialism
BY WANG-AN-SHIH
(Chinese statesman, Eleventh Century)
The State should take the entire management of commerce,
industry, and agriculture into its own hands, with a view to
succoring the working classes and preventing their being ground
to the dust by the rich.
The Promise
(_From the Psalms_)
(Hebrew, B.C. 200)
The Lord shall deliver the needy when he crieth; the poor also,
and him that hath no helper. He shall spare the poor and needy,
and shall save the souls of the needy. He shall redeem their
soul from deceit and violence; and precious shall their blood
be in his sight.
The Co-operative Commonwealth
BY ISAIAH II, THE PROPHET OF THE EXILE
(B.C. 550)
And they shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall
plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them. They shall not
build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another
eat; for as the days of a tree are the days of my people, and
mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands.