will prove ineffectual. [end of page #174]




CHAP. X.


_Of the external Causes of Decline.--the Envy and Enmity of other
Nations.--their Efforts, both in Peace and War, to bring Wealthy
Nations down to their level_.

The external causes of the decline of nations are much more simple
in themselves than the internal ones, besides which, their action is
more visible; the way of operation is such as to excite attention, and
has made them thought more worthy of being recorded.

The origin of envy and enmity are the same. The possession of what is
desirable, in a superior degree, is the cause of envy. That occasions
injurious and unjust proceedings, and enmity is the consequence,
though both originated in the same feeling at first, they assume
distinct characteristics in the course of time.

The desire of possession, in order to enjoy, is the cause of enmity and
envy; and all the crimes of nations, and of individuals, have the same
common origin.

It follows, as a natural consequence, arising from this state of things,
that those nations which enjoyed a superior degree of wealth, became
the objects of the envy of others. If that wealth was accompanied by