Where
there are revenues the demagogues should not be allowed after their
manner to distribute the surplus; the poor are always receiving and
always wanting more and more, for such help is like water poured
into a leaky cask. Yet the true friend of the people should see that
they be not too poor, for extreme poverty lowers the character of
the democracy; measures therefore should be taken which will give them
lasting prosperity; and as this is equally the interest of all
classes, the proceeds of the public revenues should be accumulated and
distributed among its poor, if possible, in such quantities as may
enable them to purchase a little farm, or, at any rate, make a
beginning in trade or husbandry. And if this benevolence cannot be
extended to all, money should be distributed in turn according to
tribes or other divisions, and in the meantime the rich should pay the
fee for the attendance of the poor at the necessary assemblies; and
should in return be excused from useless public services. By
administering the state in this spirit the Carthaginians retain the
affections of the people; their policy is from time to time to send
some of them into their dependent towns, where they grow rich. It is
also worthy of a generous and sensible nobility to divide the poor
amongst them, and give them the means of going to work.
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