ChapterFourBookOne112

For this result, the prince must thoroughly know this number, this will, and this power in order to establish and to maintain the proportion that everyone must retain in the acquisition of wealth, so that it is not contrary to the opulence of another and so that everyone gets rich in the same way, that is to say, by enriching the contributors[^1] to his wealth. What happiness for a state when its economy reaches this point of perfection! What happiness for the people who are governed by this (427) simple and natural rule in which truth and justice present themselves to all those who want to consult the common sense and the natural disposition with which one comes into the world! In the previous chapters, I have drawn up the plan of my edifice; I have even laid the foundations for it by noting where the prince must begin to achieve this proportion that supports and increases the state’s wealth.

I have said how one must prepare and nourish[^2] the minds of young people with the essential truths for this purpose. I have demonstrated the necessity of proportion with regard to necessities, conveniences, and superfluities, as much in their acquisition as in their administration and the proportional distribution among (428) the contributors[^3] to the state’s wealth. I have proposed maxims to counterbalance this greed, common to men, to get rich with haste whatever it costs others. I have noted others to correct laziness and to stimulate those who want to remain poor and wretched. The primary features of the proportion of values in the goods that everyone trades with each other, which is of great consequence for uniting the different ways of getting rich into only one, are also given. I have spoken of the quantity of goods that individuals must own so that, as a result of their too great affluence, they can never disturb the proportion that is so necessary for the state’s wealth. (429) With this general plan and on the foundations laid, it will be easy to build new establishments and to rectify those that may be found in a state.