The Social Contract - 05

Laws are equally powerless against the rich man's

wealth and the poor man's destitution贫穷, the former evading规避

them and the latter escaping from them: one breaks the net,

the other passes through it.（？？）

One of the most important things for a government to do,

therefore, is to prevent extreme inequality in wealth, not by

depriving剥夺 the rich of their possessions, but by denying everyone

the means of accumulating them;(???) and not by building poor-houses 

but by ensuring that the citizens do not become poor.

When the population is unevenly不平衡地 distributed across the

country, some places being crowded with men while others are

deserted; 

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when preference优先权 is given to the pleasing arts and the

products of pure ingenuity心灵手巧, instead of to trades that are useful

but laborious勤劳的; when agriculture is sacrificed to commerce;

when tax-collectors become necessary because of the bad

administration of state funds; 

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when, finally, venality /viː'nælətɪ/唯利是图 

grows to such an excess无节制的 that esteem尊重 is measured in gold coins 

and the virtues themselves are sold for money: these are the most

tangible有形的 causes* of opulence富裕 and poverty, of the substitution of

private interest for public, of mutual hatred between citizens,

of the indifference they feel for the common cause, of the

corruption of the people, and the weakening of all the resources

of government. 

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These therefore are ills which are hard to cure

once they have appeared, but which a wise administration

should prevent, so as to maintain proper standards of behaviour, 

together with respect for law, love of country, and a

strong general will.

Love of country cannot subsist存在 without freedom; nor freedom

without virtue; nor virtue without citizens. 

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If you can create citizens you have gained everything, but 

otherwise all you will have is wretched可怜的 slaves, 

beginning with the leaders of the state.

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But the making of citizens is not the work of a single day, and

in order to have citizens when they are men it is necessary to

educate them when they are children. 

Virtue itself loses its credit in the mouth of a man who

does not practise it. 

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But if courage is preached劝诫 by famous

warriors stooping俯首 under the burden of their victory wreaths花冠; 

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if justice is taught by judges full of probity正直, grown old in their

robes长袍 in the courts of law, 

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such teachers will shape successors

for themselves, and from age to age transmit传播 to later generations

the leaders' experience and ability, the citizens' courage

and virtue, and the ambition shared by all, that of living and

dying for their country.