For then, says he, as virtue is
wholly disregarded, and money is all-powerful, because all things are
attained by it, the admiration and desire of riches seize and corrupt the
whole community. Add to this, that when magistrates and judges are obliged
to pay large sums for their employments, they seem to have a right to
reimburse themselves.'

There is not, I believe, one instance in all antiquity, to show that
employments, either in the state or the courts of justice, were sold. The
expense, therefore, which Aristotle talks of here to raise men to
preferments in Carthage, must doubtless be understood of the presents that
were given in order to procure the votes of the electors: a practice, as
Polybius observes, very common at Carthage, where no kind of gain was
judged a disgrace.(544) It is, therefore, no wonder, that Aristotle should
condemn a practice whose consequences, it is very plain, may prove fatal
to a government.

But in case he pretended that the chief employments of a state ought to be
equally accessible to the rich and the poor, as he seems to insinuate, his
opinion is refuted by the general practice of the wisest republics; for
these, without any way demeaning or aspersing poverty, have thought that,
on this occasion, the preference ought to be given to riches; because it
is to be presumed that the wealthy have received a better education, have
nobler sentiments, are more out of the reach of corruption, and less
liable to commit base actions; and that even the state of their affairs
makes them more affectionate to the government, more disposed to maintain
peace and order in it, and more interested in suppressing whatever may
tend to sedition and rebellion.

Aristotle, in concluding his reflections on the republic of Carthage, is
much pleased with a custom that prevailed there: _viz._ of sending from
time to time colonies into different countries; and in this manner
procuring its citizens commodious settlements. This provided for the
necessities of the poor, who, equally with the rich, are members of the
state: and it disburdened Carthage of multitudes of lazy, indolent people,
who were its disgrace, and often proved dangerous to it: it prevented
commotions and insurrections, by thus removing such persons as commonly
occasion them; and who being ever discontented under their present
circumstances, are always ready for innovations and tumults.

SECT. IV. TRADE OF CARTHAGE, THE FIRST SOURCE OF ITS WEALTH A