The Anatomy of Melancholy

However much most theologians oppose it— We deny it, but the denial is only words. Statesmen must turn a blind eye. Some eminent theologians nevertheless approve it: Calvin, Bucer, Zanchi, and Peter Martyr, since it is permitted by so many great jurists, imperial decrees, princely statutes, the customs of commonwealths, and the approval of churches, and so on. I will therefore allow it.

But I will not permit private individuals to lend simply because they choose to. Permission shall be given only to orphans, unmarried women, widows, or those whose age, sex, education, or ignorance of trade leaves them no other way to employ their money. Even those approved shall not lend separately: they shall bring their money to a common bank authorised in every city, as at Genoa, Geneva, Nuremberg, and Venice, at five, six, or seven per cent, and never above eight, as the supervisors or treasury officials consider appropriate.

Just as not everyone who wishes shall be allowed to lend at interest, neither shall everyone be allowed to borrow at interest. Permission shall go to merchants, young tradesmen, and those in need or able to employ the money honestly, rather than to prodigals and spendthrifts. The supervisors shall examine and approve their need, purpose, and circumstances.

I will have no private monopolies that enrich one person and impoverish many, no accumulation of offices, and no discharge of their duties through deputies. Weights and measures shall be uniform everywhere, determined by the motion of the outermost celestial sphere and the sun: sixty miles to a degree, according to observation; a thousand geometrical paces to a mile; five feet to a pace; twelve inches to a foot; and so on. Once measures are established, it is easy to standardise weights, calculate everything, and determine the dimensions of solid bodies through algebra and solid geometry.

I detest wars unless they serve the people’s safety and arise from urgent necessity. We hate the hawk because it always lives at war. I will permit no offensive war unless its cause is entirely just.

For I greatly admire what Hannibal says to Scipio in Livy: it would have been a blessing for both you and us if God had inclined our predecessors to be content, you with Italy and we with Africa. Neither Sicily nor Sardinia is worth such expense and suffering, so many fleets and armies, or the lives of so many famous commanders.

Everything must first be tried: peaceful means shall be tried first. Calm authority achieves what violence cannot. I will have them proceed with the utmost moderation. But listen: Fabius shall be my general, not Minutius, for a man who relies on judgement harms the enemy more than one who relies on strength without using his reason;