Do you think that she came off at a cheaper
rate when men had their rewards by ?1,000 or ?2,000 a year in
land if inheritance? if you say that they will be more godly than
they have been, it may be ill taken; and if you cannot promise
that, it is time we find out some way of stinting at least, if
not curing them of that same sacra fames. On the other side, if a
poor man (as such a one may save a city) gives his sweat to the
public, with what conscience can you suffer his family in the
meantime to starve? but he that lays his hand to this plough
shall not lose by taking it off from his own, and a commonwealth
that will mend this shall be penny-wise. The Sanhedrim of Israel,
being the supreme, and a constant court of judicature, could not
choose but be exceeding gainful. The Senate of the Bean in
Athens, because it was but annual, was moderately salaried; but
that of the Areopagites, being for life, bountifully; and what
advantages the senators of Lacedaemon had, where there was little
money or use of it, were in honors for life. The patricians
having no profit, took all. Venice being a situation where a man
goes but to the door for his employment, the honor is great and
the reward very little; but in Holland a councillor of state has
?1,500 Flemish a year, besides other accommodations.
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