Here are the three main motives that prevail among men who seek superfluities: some seek them for an uncertain and remote need, others for a need that seems very close, and the greatest number for a use that depends more on their will than on a fortuitous event. The more the prince can remove from the minds of his people the fear of the difficulties that are commonly encountered in the situations mentioned, the closer they will come to the highest degree of wealth, which are superfluities. This is an important thing (337) for a state’s wealth and, through a natural connectivity of things, will infinitely help the proportional distribution of necessities and conveniences. The real antidote against this evil will be to reassure everyone that the unfortunate events for which we keep our superfluities can hardly ever happen. If the miser were cured of his natural fear of never seeing his money again when he gave it up, if everyone were protected against the fear of famine, no matter how barren the land is, if fathers were assured that their children would be well educated in an honest profession at public expense, if the minds of girls were as well nourished as that of the boys with (338) useful knowledge for getting rich, and if fear of the difficulty of supporting a family were nearly extinguished, there would no longer be this unruly desire to have and to keep inopportunely an inordinate quantity of goods and, by keeping them, to remove them from uses that are often very necessary for the preservation of others and for the good of the state. We would no longer seek our superfluities in the excessive quantity of certain goods, but rather in a large number of contributors[^1] to our needs. We would no longer delay so long getting married and starting a household. It is therefore appropriate that the prince seeks solid ways to protect his people from this fear that does so much damage to the (339) wealth of the state and to that of individuals in relation to the bad use that is usually made of their superfluities.
We must not imagine that it is absolutely impossible to succeed. First, nourish the minds of the youth with the truth that I have demonstrated above—that there are no goods in the world that have the sovereign virtue of protecting men against poverty, destitution, and other unfortunate accidents that come to their minds and divert them from passing on their superfluities to others, encouraging them to hoard and to guard them carefully, and that the surest guarantee against poverty is the personal assistance of men and their voluntary contribution to our (340) needs, and that without this guarantee all goods boil down to nothing: this will be a beautiful beginning to curing them of this normal fear that so torments the minds of most men with regard to the future. The examples that will be presented to them on this subject, which happen everyday, will strengthen this very noble and worthy feeling in them, and they will seek winning the friendship, kindness, and trust of others through a prompt exchange of their superfluities rather than contribute to their ruin by keeping them ill-advisedly. On such a firm foundation the prince will build many things that are capable of suppressing and completely extinguishing the fears (341) I have just mentioned, which are so contrary to the state’s wealth.
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