28 
tions. One fhop calls itfelf the Altar of 
the Mufes, another the Temple of Infiruc- 
#On, a ‘third the. Cradle of reo and a 
fourth the Cegin of Prejudice + J 
SE ee 
For ihe Monthly Magaz Ine. 
AGAINST Luxury. 
A. Chapter never before tranflated, from the 
Poiities of ARISTOTLE. 
Wy E ALTH, or property, like all other 
patiing things, is to be contidered 
two ways, as matter and form; the 
matter being from nature, as the nea 
the wool, the marble, the gold ; and the 
form from man, as the loaf, the garment, 
the temple, the drachma. In fome things 
there is more of matter; as, ina loaf of 
three oboles, I obtain fer two oboles of 
wheat, and, for one obole only, im the 
work of the grinder, the kneader, and 
the baker. In other things there is 
nore of form; as in the Bombacyne of 
Cyprus, of which three drachmas’ 
worth contains of wool for one drachma 
oniy, and for two of gain made by the 
weaver, the teazer, and the merchant, 
Now, the matter only can ferve for 
food, raiment, fhelter, or otherwile for 
the cee rt of exiftence ; for the form, 
in ps portion ax it abounds, implies a 
wake. of matter. Efit require the wool 
of one fheep to make the blanket of a 
Cynic, it will requir re the wool of two 
to make the Syrian cloke of a Satrap; 
much of the fleeces having’ in this been 
eaft away for eee much for ij] 
“colour, fome for rude {pinning, and fome 
was clipped mto down by the fmoother 
of the furface; yet fhall Diogenes, with 
his. fingle fleece, be longer. clad than 
Darius with his two. Thus again, a 
ee ee | of bipmen’ s bifcuits comes to coft 
mere than an equal meafure of 
corm; but the white cakes for facrifice 
than a like quan- 
- 
are many times dearer 
tity of wheat ; yet the former, not the 
latter, will moft nourith the eater ; for 
of thefe the bran was fifted aw ayy tne 
thrown to the doves, the chippings were 
trodden under foot, and, of the finer 
flour, much was diilipated 1 in duft ; their 
form having been given with a we of 
matter, ees lait alone € profits. 
It is nature, then, who fupports man. 
What, out of efleminacy, he beftows 
upon her produétions, only diminiihes 
his own means of fubfiftence. Alfo has 
fe, as it were in-vengeance, made it 
neceffary that complex forms can only 
4 
Ariftitle on Luzurje. 
{Febs 
be given to her produdtions by leffening 
the number of the virtuous: for, £ 
matter alone fupports life, the number 
of the living muft keep pace with the 
plenty of natural productions, with the 
abundance of matter, and muft be fome- 
what abridged by every impretiion of 
form. Moreover it being the office of 
the fervile clafs, and never of. the free, 
to impre{s form, a greater proportion of 
the fervile, or unworthy clafs,. muft be 
ey ided w me {upport out of the pro- 
ductions of nature, and fewer of the 
free, or virtuous clafs, if much of form 
be ufually imprefied upon things, than 
if but little ; for fuch natural “produc- 
tions are in quantity definite, and muf 
nvaintain fo many only, Sparta, there- 
fore, which, in Its farniture, i is not given 
to aoe than rude workmanfhip, has 
found the increafe of Helots often to be 
exceiiive, but of citizens mever; and, 
therefore, the mafters are permitted to 
hunt and deftroy the flaves. Whereas, 
Athens.which will ingly prizesevery thing 
rather for its fhape than its material, that 
1s, for the undaneee of form ;is continually 
neceffitated to import flaves from among. 
the barbarians, .in order to employ them 
as artificers. It has, however, had to 
dimifs more colonies of -free citizens, 
who are the ftrength and honour of 
fates, than even the fea-towns of the 
Tonians. 
The lawgiver, therefore, whom it 
becomes rather to multiply the citizen 
than the alien; thofe who love their 
country; rathe = than thofe who value 
not. its welfare; thofe from among 
whom are dain the ornaments of the 
forum and the thunderbolts of war, 
rather than the polifhers of pebbles or 
the carvers of golden grafshoppers ;—he 
will forbid the ufe of fuch clothes, 
‘dwellings, food, or furniture, as are 
valued for their form, not for their 
matter; and he wiil command a pre- 
ference for thofe in which matter, not 
form, abounds. All labor beftowed upon 
what is of nature, being not only a labor 
in vain, which merely effeminacy de- 
fires, fue a labor which even leffens in 
produce the power of benefiting; and a 
Jabor which obtains nourifhment wholly 
for the untaught and the unworthy. 

To the Editor of the Monthly ye 
SIR, 
eS Treatife on Man, his Re 
faculties, and his education, by the 
celebrated Heivetius, eppears to have 
been 
/ 
