Global Journal of Human Social Science, E: Economics, Volume 22 Issue 2

service must be shown . 32 Other persons are to be treated differently according to their place in the social hierarchy. He should avoid "la inhumanidad ordinaria a los grandes, i el desprecio con que tratan los inferiores." 33 In dealing with riches, one virtue is central: "La que deve tener por mas propia de su estado, es la Liberalidad. " 34 It is accompanied by modesty. In public occasions it is restrained: "Sepa medir, i proporcionar a su persona, sobre lo conveniente, lo grande: pero huya los excesos inimitables [...] i tocando estremos, a que no pueden llegar otros, la embiciosa emulacion sabrà calumniarlos. " 35 The Nobleza virtuosa (1619) by Pedro Henrique Pastor also links nobility to virtue: "Sola la virtud es el propio bien del hombre, pues todas las demas cosas humanas se consumen, y ella da muestras de naturaleza eterna." Here, then, López de Vega is squarely in the Aristotelian tradition of domestic fathers' literature, which demands moderation and limitation. 36 In detail, the cardinal virtues, honoring the father, obedience to the king and the relationship with the wife, children and vassals are dealt with . 37 With the latter, he said, it is important to be well advised and guided: "A los pueblos, y vassallos particulares, que conocieres de malas inclinaciones, animos inquietos, y deseosos de novedades, procurad ponerles freno, con quitar las ocasiones, y limitarles el poder." 38 Generous may the householder be in forgiving accidental and not malicious culpable behavior, or when dues are not paid on time. Privileges once granted to vassals are not to be withdrawn and special services are not to be demanded. In dealing specifically with the poor and ignorant farm laborers, the landlord is to listen patiently to their concerns . 39 Gabriel Alonso de Herrera, on the other hand, starts with agriculture. In his Agricultura general (1513), he praises rural life as if it were the Golden Age: "Mas labrar el campo vida sancta, segura, llena de inocencia, agena de pecado. Quién podrá en breve decir las excelencias y provechos que el campo acarrea? El campo quita la ociosidad dañosa, en el campo no hay For Henrique Pastor, too, the starting point of advice is virtue. 32 Cf. Francisco José Aranda Pérez, Familia y sociedad o la interrelación casa-república en la tratadística española del siglo XVI, in: James Casey, Juan Hernández Franco (ed.), Familia, parentesco y linaje, Universidad de Murcia 1997, p. 177-186 rencores ni enemistades; mas se conserva la salud, por donde la vida mas se alarga. " 40 When there were no cities, he said, there was also less disease and less need for medicine. Agriculture combined "provecho, placer y honra. " 41 Cato is cited, for whom it was considered the highest praise when someone was called "ser buen labrador." Gladly, the Romans took from among the labradores their capitanes, who "conservaron su inocencia, vivieron sanctamente." 42 Herrera, like Virgil, first discusses soil conditions and fertilization, then devotes himself to cereals, viticulture, forestry and livestock. Agriculture, he says, is the oldest of the mechanical arts that exist, since it goes back to Adam. Later, the arts were developed and perfected, but Herrera emphasizes that the first inventors of an art, like the beginnings, are of particular importance, citing Aristotle. Herrera does not claim to be the inventor of agriculture, but at least he is the one who, starting from Greek and Latin models, presents it in Spanish. It is irrelevant that the ancient guidelines do not refer to Spanish climatic conditions or soils, but to Italian or Greek ones, they are just as valid as the ancient rules of medicine. And on the question of the primacy of the old or the new, Herrera gives preference to the former: "De creer es que supieron los romanos labrar el campo tan bien como nuestros españoles; y aun pienso yo que algo mejor, porque mas se preciaban dello; y no hay quien tan bien ni tan perfectamente haga alguna cosa como el que se precia y honra della. " 43 Lope de Deça, in his "Govierno polytico de Agricultura" (1618), emphasizes the dignity, utility and necessity of agriculture, considering it superior to all other arts and accomplishments, "pues ella sola es la natural, digna de nobles, de virtuosos, y de sabios." 44 And he invokes Xenophon, for whom agriculture is an activity appropriate for kings. Drawing on Aristotle, he contrasts natural agriculture with the unnatural multiplication of money through the taking of interest. Lope de Deça therefore sees an important reason for the decline of agriculture in the sharp increase in rents, which ruined the tenant, especially in the event of crop failure or failure of livestock. It benefited the "Arçobispados, Obispados, Dignidades, Canongias, Curatos, Beneficios, Prestamos, Encomiendas de las Ordees militares tercias Reales, y otras ansi." 45 © 2022 Global Journals Volume XXII Issue II Version I 47 ( ) Global Journal of Human Social Science - Year 2022 E Economy between Necessity and Luxury. Business Ethics from Antiquity to Early Modern Times 33 Antonio López de Vega, El perfecto señor, Madrid, Imprenta Real, 1653, p. 37 34 Antonio López de Vega, El perfecto señor, Madrid, Imprenta Real, 1653, p. 39 35 Antonio López de Vega, El perfecto señor, Madrid, Imprenta Real, 1653, p. 43 36 Pedro Henrique Pastor, Nobleza virtuosa, Zaragoza, Juan de Lanaja, 1619, p. 5 37 Cf. Jean-Michel Laspéras, Manuales de educación en el Siglo de Oro, in: Bulletin Hispanique 97, 1, 1995, p. 173-185 38 Pedro Henrique Pastor, Nobleza virtuosa, Zaragoza, Juan de Lanaja, 1619, p. 117-118 39 Cf. Pedro Henrique Pastor, Nobleza virtuosa, Zaragoza, Juan de Lanaja, 1619, p. 123, 135-136, 130 40 Gabriel Alonso de Herrera, Agricultura general, Madrid, Imprenta real, 1818, p. 4 41 Gabriel Alonso de Herrera, Agricultura general, Madrid, Imprenta real, 1818, p. 4 42 Gabriel Alonso de Herrera, Agricultura general, Madrid, Imprenta real, 1818, p. 5 43 Gabriel Alonso de Herrera, Agricultura general, Madrid, Imprenta real, 1818, p. 3 44 Lope de Deça, Givierno polytico de Agricultura, Madrid, Alonso Martin de Balboa, 1618, p. 2 45 Lope de Deça, Givierno polytico de Agricultura, Madrid, Alonso Martin de Balboa, 1618, p. 33