,
effort none, result infinite.
The second system maintains that it is the effort itself which forms
the measure of, and constitutes, our riches. Progression is the
increase of the _proportion of the effect to the result_. Its ideal
extreme may be represented by the eternal and fruitless efforts of
Sisyphus.[A]
[Footnote A: We will therefore beg the reader to allow us in future,
for the sake of conciseness, to designate this system under the term
of _Sisyphism_, from Sisyphus, who, in punishment of his crimes, was
compelled to roll a stone up hill, which fell to the bottom as fast as
he rolled it to the top, so that his labor was interminable as well as
fruitless.]
The first system tends naturally to the encouragement of everything
which diminishes difficulties, and augments production--as powerful
machinery, which adds to the strength of man; the exchange of produce,
which allows us to profit by the various natural agents distributed in
different degrees over the surface of our globe; the intellect which
discovers, the experience which proves, and the emulation which
excites.
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