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17 Oct, 2018
Merchants lent, and many grew rich.
But others, hundreds of them, foundered (bị quỵ (vì làm việc quá sức), bị què, bị sa lầy (ngựa)) on the rock of bad faith (tính không đáng tin cậy, sự gian trá).
The samurai (võ sĩ đạo) were ready to die for their lord (lãnh chúa) and master (chủ nhân), yet their word was notoriously (lừng danh, khét tiếng) worthless (vô giá trị, vô lại), and not just to merchants (thương nhân).
Often the merchant was caught in a no-win (chắc chắn thua, thảm bại) situation; he was damned if he did and damned if he didn’t. The case of Yodoya Tatsugoro became legendary (huyền thoại).
The family (gia tộc, thị tộc, dòng họ) had made an enormous fortune (gia tài, của cải, cơ đồ) by being useful, among other things by undertaking public works in Osaka; no house did more to make that city the commercial center of Japan.
But Tatsugoro, fifth-generation head of the house, was too rich for the public good.
So many daimyō owed him money that state interest (lợi ích quốc gia) and Confucian morality (đạo lý Nho giáo) required he be cut down to size.
In 1705, the Bakufu confiscated (tịch thu, sung công) his fortune and canceled his claims on the pretext that he was living beyond his social status. So much for gratitude (lòng biết ơn).
in France:
(That is not so bad as what happened to Nicolas Fouquet, from 1653 superintendent of finance (bộ trưởng tài chính) in the government of Louis XIV of France.
Grown too big and rich too fast, Fouquet was already marked for doom (bất hạnh, bạc phận, diệt vong, tận số) when he invited Louis to visit him in his new chateau (lâu đài) and put on a welcome so lavish (hoang phí, hoang toàng, hậu hĩ), indeed royal, that the king became implacably (nhất quyết) jealous (ghen ghét, đố kỵ).
No functionary (người làm công, công chức) could afford such display except by cheating (lừa bịp, gian lận, không trung thành, không chung thủy) his master.
So after the pretense of a trial (phiên tòa chiếu lệ), accompanied by the usual painful (chán ngắt) questions, Fouquet was condemned (quy tội, kết án) in 1661 and sentenced to prison for life.)
Lâu đài Vaux-le-Vicomte, từ cổng vào.
(có thể xem Lâu đài Vaux-le-Vicomte ở wikipedia)
The Wealth and Poverty of Nations: Why Some Are So Rich and Some So Poor Paperback – May 17, 1999
by David S. Landes
658 pages. W. W. Norton & Company. $15.97
Tags: book
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