442 



PAUPERISM PAUSANIAS. 



ninl safely say, that the products of labour in every 

 civilized community, at the present actual degree of 

 skill and industry, are sufficient to supply a compe- 

 tence to all. What, then, hinders all the world 

 from enjoying competence, happiness, and content, 

 as far as provisions and accommodations for living 

 are concerned ? Two great obstacles, viz. the one, 

 that labour is not equally shared by all ; the other, 

 that the labour of all is not equally well rewarded.' 

 These two causes always have prevented that uni- 

 versal competence which philanthropists desire, 

 and to promote which, in some degree, is the great 

 object of their labours. They aim to enable as 

 many persons as possible to command the means of 

 support upon those terms which the prevailing laws, 

 habits, and customs of society impose. In every 

 society, the means of living of different descriptions 

 are estimated, by general consent, at certain rates ; 

 whatever a man can do towards supplying his own, 

 or the general consumption, and whatever is com- 

 prehended in the mass of this consumption, is esti- 

 mated at a certain value or rate. The object of 

 the laws is to protect each one in the possession of 

 his part of the general stock, and to save him from 

 the necessity of parting with it without receiving an 

 equivalent. To enable every one to command a 

 competence, the main requisites are, to enable him 

 to exchange his labour for the things which he needs, 

 and to make him willing to labour for the means of 

 support. One great purpose of a large part of the 

 social institutions, including the public schools, and 

 the institutions for moral and religious, instruction, 

 is to make him willing and able to earn his living. 

 The laws, moreover, often make provision, and the 

 sentiments of a well-ordered community universally 

 prescribe, that young men should be educated to 

 some employment. In the very elaborate examina- 

 tions which took place in England, in 1816, under 

 the direction of a committee of the house of com- 

 mons, on the subject of pauperism and crimes, all 

 the facts disclosed, and opinions expressed, tended 

 to show that the amount of poverty and crime de- 

 pended almost wholly on the character and habits 

 acquired by the young. No advantages of climate, 

 soil, and situation, will secure a people from the 

 evils of pauperism, and its consequence, crime. 

 Some of the most salubrious and fruitful countries 

 abound in both. Scotland has few paupers com- 

 pared with Ireland, which is more fruitful and more 

 easily cultivated. The causes of pauperism lie in 

 the character of the population, and the only pre- 

 ventive is the improvement of the people. The 

 pauperism of England is to be attributed, in a great 

 measure, to the reckless and improvident habits of 

 its labouring poor. But the greatest prudence, 

 united with the greatest industry on the part of the 

 poorer classes, will not always save them from want. 

 This is frequently the case in England, where wages 

 are low compared with the expenses of living, so that 

 an ordinary labourer often cannot, in the period of 

 his life when he can do the greatest amount of la- 

 bour, save any thing against the time of decrepitude 

 or sickness ; and the children of suffering parents 

 must suffer with them. The question in regard to 

 such is, By what means shall their present distress 

 be relieved? The economists of the new school (as 

 it is sometimes'called), namely, that of Mr Malthus, 

 Mr Ricardo, Mr M'Culloch, and others, say that 

 they are to be abandoned to starvation. But a doc- 

 trine so abhorrent to our nature is only a hideous 

 theory, which cannot enter into the laws or habits of 

 any people, until human nature shall be sunk into 

 brutal hard-heartedness. The dictates of religion, 

 conscience, and compassion, enjoin upon us to give 

 relief; and the only question practically discussed 



relate to the mode and degree of the assistance to 

 be afforded, and the measures whicli ought to be 

 adopted for reclaiming such as bring their misery 

 upon themselves by vice and idleness. The two 

 great objects are remedy of present suffering and 

 prevention of future ; and these two objects are very 

 much blended, for it is a great rule so to administer 

 succour as not to encourage idleness or vice. In the 

 case of young subjects of relief, the greatest charity 

 is that which is directed to the forming of good ha- 

 bits, and giving them instruction in useful arts. 

 With older subjects there is very little hope of any 

 great amelioration of character. But even with 

 these, a regard to the influence upon their habits i? 

 constantly to be kept in view in administering tt 

 their present wants. One essential condition is, that 

 they should be made to labour, and thus contribute, 

 as far as possible, to their own support. How to 

 employ them to advantage, is a very important in- 

 quiry, and no general rule can be prescribed. In 

 some districts, they may be best employed in work- 

 ing on a large farm. Another method is, to let out 

 their services to persons who will contract for their 

 support. This mode should be practised with cau- 

 tion, and with proper provision for the humane 

 treatment of the labourers. As to the sick and in- 

 firm, the rest of the community are bound to sup- 

 port them, by a just assessment of the expenses. 

 Charity should be so administered to the poor as not 

 to make it preferable to the gaining a subsistence by 

 individual efforts. 



PAUSANIAS; a Greek topographical writer, who 

 flourished during the reigns of Adrian and the An- 

 tonines. If he is the rhetorician or grammarian who 

 is mentioned under this name, he was a native of 

 Caesarea, in Cappadocia, and studied under the cele- 

 brated Herodes Atticus. He taught at Athens, and 

 afterwards at Rome, where he died. His account of 

 Greece, a kind of journal of his travels, in which he 

 describes every thing remarkable temples, theatres, 

 tombs, statues, pictures, monuments of every sort, 

 &c.< is a valuable work for the antiquarian. His 

 style is sometimes careless, and sometimes affectedly 

 formed on more ancient writers ; and the work is 

 full of fables which are connected with the objects 

 that he describes. For this reason, Scaliger called 

 him GrcECulorum omnium mendacissimus; but the 

 fullest confidence may be put in Pausanias, where he 

 speaks as an eye-witness. His work has been edited 

 by Kuhn (Leipsic, 1696, folio), Faclus (Leipsic, 1794 

 1797, 4to), Sibelis (Leipsic, 1822, 4 vols.): the 

 latest edition is that of Bekker (Berlin, 1826). The 

 French translation by Clavier and others (Paris, 1814 

 1821) contains the Greek text and notes, in seven 

 volumes. We have an English translation by Taylor. 



PAUSANIAS; a Lacedzemonian general, son of 

 Cleombrotus, and nephew of Leonidas. He was 

 appointed guardian of his cousin Plistarchus, the son 

 of Leonidas, during his minority ; and in this capa- 

 city, was at the head of the government during the 

 absence of the other king. When Mardonius in- 

 vaded Greece with a large army of Persians, Pau- 

 sanias marched against him as general of the allied 

 forces of Greece, deceived his enemy by a feigned 

 retreat, and totally defeated him in the battle of 

 Platasa (B. C. 479). He then advanced to Thebes, 

 which had deserted the cause of Greece, compelled 

 the inhabitants to surrender the leaders of the Per 

 sian party, and caused them to be executed. His 

 moderation, which had been admired during the 

 campaign against Mardonius, now gave way to ar- 

 rogance and overbearing impetuosity. To himself 

 alone he ascribed the victory at Plataea, and offered 

 a golden tripod in the temple of Apollo at Delphi, 

 with an inscription representing himself as the sole 



