14.7. 7. Of Monkery.
The very same mischiefs result from monkery: it had
its rise in the warm countries of the East, where they are less inclined
to action than to speculation.
In Asia the number of dervishes or monks seems to increase together
with the warmth of the climate. The Indies, where the heat is excessive,
are full of them; and the same difference is found in Europe.
In order to surmount the laziness of the climate, the laws ought to
endeavour to remove all means of subsisting without labour: but in the
southern parts of Europe they act quite the reverse. To those who want
to live in a state of indolence, they afford retreats the most proper
for a speculative life, and endow them with immense revenues. These men,
who live in the midst of plenty which they know not how to enjoy, are in
the right to give their superfluities away to the common people. The
poor are bereft of property; and these men indemnify them by supporting
them in idleness, so as to make them even grow fond of their misery.
