Chapter 18 - About Commerce
The following day, one of the Capernaum legionnaires came to me. It was hot. I was sitting in the shade of the barn. Judas and Philip Martin were preparing a simple meal at the campfire. The other disciples were absent. I enjoyed the view of the base green hills on the lake's southern shore. The flowing contours seemed like the promised land. There was no being and no death there, and you didn't have to pay taxes and think about where to get a handful of figs to satisfy your hunger. By the way, even on the other shore of the Sea of Galilee, the earth gave oil and wine for 10 months of the year, but that didn't change anything.
'Jesus, we enjoyed talking to you yesterday; come see us again,' said the legionnaire, and the sun shone on the carved emblems of his lepta. 'But don't you have some more of that kid for me that you regaled us with yesterday? I'm willing to pay you three lepta for a pinch of that drug; it's a great help getting to sleep.'
I sold the legionnaire the entire modest supply of kif I had left.
The next day, he came again.
At that moment, I understood how I could share joy and peace with the legionnaires so that they would share with my money: resell their kif. To that end, cough cheaply purchased a bag of that herb from someone I knew; his name was Venedad, and he traded in weaving fabrics and other wares. I had gotten to know him in Capernaum when he had come to see merchant Italy, who had once taken care of my pupils. Vendad had treated us to excellent kif and gave a convincing discourse on its usefulness, stating that kif was unfortunate enough to be so little adopted by the Jews, even though it had a much better effect on body and mind than wine.
Venedad lived in Gegreza, a town on the other side of the lake. After consulting with Judas and Philippus, I decided to go there the morning of the next day. To this end, Judas had asked to borrow a boat from a fisherman. I had hopes of buying the KIF from Venedad on the puff. By selling it in small portions to the empty nest, we could quickly and without exaggerating efforts to improve our situation, namely by tapping into a legal source of income.
I had always had a soft spot for commerce, even though I had never explicitly engaged in it. It occurred to me that the essence of commerce allowed one to escape the ancient curse with which God sent his children into the woods from Adam's time: 'So be the earth under a curse for thy sake, and with sorrow shalt thou eat thereof all the days of thy life. It shall also bring forth thorns and thistles unto thee, and thou shalt eat the herb of the field. You shall eat bread in the sweat of your face until you return to the earth because you were taken from it.
Commerce freed a man from stupid, monotonous daily work. An enterprising man did not have to struggle against weeds. Sometimes, I even thought that all peoples' bright and most just future would be marked by world peace resting on the mere fair exchange of goods, services, and coins. No one would suffer subject matter beyond his power except voluntary wage slaves, lunatics, a few stupid women, and people who, of their own free will, inflicted such punishment on themselves to clear their conscience. Indeed, it had a purifying meaning, for example, when a murderer, in the sweat of his face, dug a deep and spacious grave for his victims.
The important thing was not to confuse trade with piracy, as Herodotus of Halicarnas did before he lost himself in writing historical works. Yes, a writer was sometimes allowed, even required, to be an industrious robber and thief, but trade did not tolerate such digressions. Trade, reader! Relegate against tables, not forgetting that Christmas is worth more. If you have a boat and you sail to Tartes with a cargo of bell-smelling fabrics and spices, these not here and here a brave, well-equipped commando, for the sea knows no laws, as history knows no alternatives. What more should I say about it? If you can't pay taxes for those, then under no circumstances, because the government spends the public purse on a new war anyway, you can still be happy if it is not a war against your people. This is why a census determines the number of taxpayers and how many enemies the government has.
What shall we beat about the bush? Better to have a good heart and a chest of silver than just a big and good heart; a small child can still understand that! True to true, word to word, penny to penny. Don't be too lazy to thank him for a fulfilled and carefree life; this religion's name is Mercury the Profitable.
