A full and just account of the present state of the Ottoman Empire in all its branches; with the government, and policy, religion, customs, and way of living of the Turks in general ... from a serious observation, taken in many years travesl thro' those countries / [Aaron Hill].

Aaron Hill

Date:: 1710

Credit: A full and just account of the present state of the Ottoman Empire in all its branches; with the government, and policy, religion, customs, and way of living of the Turks in general ... from a serious observation, taken in many years travesl thro' those countries / [Aaron Hill]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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$The Turks ve- THUS does Poffeffion of a fplendid Wealth endanger thofe, who own ry Covetous. yet [t \s obfervable fiat Turks of every Nation are the moll inclin’d to aim at growing Rich, more zealoufly purfuing Gain, by how much faifer it rolls in upon them ; and this in every Age has been a Vice as epidemic as un- reafondble. The Poor are commonly the molf contented with their For¬ tune, and Juvenal has left it as a Maxim, that, '' . ' ■'* * * 1 . \ | jj | nl . f ‘ ft \ # o ; •» ; l • |, r. « . $uv. Sat. i+. Crefcit amor nummi, quantum ipfi pecitnia crefcit, Et minus hanc optat, qui non habet. “ * >j •. * 0- * • *-* ^ * - l JJ :( '' j if The love of Money does with Money grow, Thofe wifh it leaf, who leaf its Comforts know, > ^ . * - k r f ■ 4 < 11C -• - - • i > ’ | . \ j , ' yi . * i THE Cuftoms upon Goods Imported and Exported, are another means of bringing in confiderable Sums of Money to the Coffers of the Sultan, and occafonal Taxes of an hundred kinds impos’d on Chrijlians and the Turks tbemfelves, of which it was impoffible to get a juft Account, amount each Year to fuch amazing Heaps of Wealth, that the Grand Signior cannot tell the bottom of his Income. ! '.fl') Mi ! • . ’ ;•. • j 1 ■ ; •! ’: 1C'fi ''•10 '• • • •' -yv« Ur i B U T as the violent Extortion of Superiors tempts the reft to imitate their Methods in a private Dealing, every Man applies himfelf to ftudv means of growing Rich, as finding a necefilty of being fo, if they wou’d make a Figure worth regarding. -‘.JO t'B T '- ' ' - “• ;' t v<j r . j i \j y $uv. Sat. 14. Vnde habeas qiurit nemo, fed oportet habere* No Man will ask, which way you Wealthy grow, Yet, wou’d you gain Rejpccl, you muft be lb. > Ofil lift JO 0'1 - r .V.u-r ‘ tc {v fi -;f' .• / t m q-] . - j> T H O’ all the Nations of the World have ever difregarded ragged Me¬ rit, none defpife it like the Turkiflj People; For their Nobility becoming fo but by the Riches they are Mafters of, the Poor are look’d upon with ftrange Contempt, and their fuccefslefs Labours fiander’d with the Stain of want of Indujlry ; and the Curfe of Poverty were in any Country an infup- portabl e Misfortune, tho’ it Iiad but that one Mark of Inconvenience, nam’d by Juvenal. „ _ Nil habet infelix paupertas dun us in fe, Qtiam quod ndiculos homines facit. Unhappy Poverty, that heavy Curfe, In its opprejjive Weight has nothing worfe, Than that fuch Men, as griping Want endure, Appear ridiculous by being Poor. PROCEED we now to view the prefent State of the poor Modern Greeks, and fee how much we find among them of the ancient Spirit of •their Glorious Ancejlors. C H A P.$