Marseilles, a necessary retreat in the midst of a tempestuous sea;
Marseilles, a harbour which all the winds, the shelves of the sea, the
disposition of the coasts, point out for a landing-place, became
frequented by mariners; while the sterility of the adjacent country
determined the citizens to an economical commerce.
[6]
It was necessary
that they should be laborious to supply what nature had refused; that
they should be just, in order to live among barbarous nations, from whom
they were to derive their prosperity; that they should be moderate, to
the end that they might always taste the sweets of a tranquil
government; in fine, that they should be frugal in their manners, to
enable them to subsist by trade — a trade the more certain as it was
less advantageous.
We everywhere see violence and oppression give birth to a commerce
founded on economy, while men are constrained to take refuge in marshes,
in isles, in the shallows of the sea, and even on rocks themselves. Thus
it was that Tyre, Venice, and the cities of Holland were founded.
Fugitives found there a place of safety. It was necessary that they
should subsist; they drew, therefore, their subsistence from all parts
of the world.
