The land is a solemn gift which nature has made to man; to be born then is for each of us a title of possession. The child has no better birthright to the breast of its mother.
— MARMONTEL (1737), Address in Favor of the Peasants of the North, OE'uvres, Vol. X, p. 36.
What generation of men was ever happier? In common they enjoyed the gifts of nature; she sufficed like a mother to the support of all. . . Today let avarice add field to field, let her drive out her neighbors by purchase or by fraud, let her swell her estate to the size of a province, no extension of our boundaries will bring us back to the point we started from.
— SENECA, Epistles, XC. (near the end).
These quotes were a bit tougher to track down. I couldn't find the Marmontel quote, though it may have been an issue of searching through translations. I suspect that the "1837" ought to be 1857.
With the help of a resident expert (thank you!), I did find an interesting snippet.
From Memoirs of Marmontel, Volume 3, By Jean François Marmontel page 342
Its basis was a land-tax in kind, the advantage of which would have been to follow the progressive rise in the value of property. However, if it were found too difficult to collect, he would have changed the mode, provided it had been equally charged on all real estate. But they would not make any arrangement with him; and for the principle, as well as for the form, the notables pronounced that this tax was inadmissible; and at the same time they declared, that they would refuse to deliberate on every species of tax, unless they were permitted to inspect the detailed statements of the receipt and expenditure, in which they might see how the deficit had been formed; that if, after examining the accounts, they should find that new supplies were indispensable, they would consent that the tax should be equal on all property.
I found several translations of Seneca:
There followed the blessed ages when Nature's bounty lay open to all to be used without distinction, before avarice and luxury severed mankind's unity, so that from partnership men scurried after individual rapine. Those were not wise men even if they behaved as wise men should. No other state of the human race deserves higher respect; if god should delegate the molding of earthly creatures and the formation of people's habits to some individual, he could find no more admirable condition than that reported of the age when
No farmers harried the tilth; to mark out fields
And separate boundaries was not lawful. They shared
Pursuits, and earth itself produced more freely
When none demanded.
Could any race be more blessed than that? Men enjoyed Nature in common, and she that begot them supplied them all as guardian and assured them possession of shared resources. Might I not call that breed the richest of mortal kind when no pauper could be found among them?
But avarice invaded this happy system, and in its desire to withdraw property to subvert to its own uses it alienated the whole and reduced itself to narrowly delimited instead of undefined resources. It was avarice that introduced poverty; by craving much it lost all. Though it now strive to repair its loss, though it add field to field, ejecting neighbors by fee or force, though it expand estates to the area of provinces and call an extended tour of its estates possession, yet will no widening of boundaries bring us back to the state from which we have fallen away.
When we have done all that we can we shall own a great deal, but we did own the whole. The earth itself was more fertile when it was not worked, and provided amply for peoples who did not seize for themselves. Men took as great pleasure in finding what Nature offered as in displaying it to their neighbors. None could have excess or dearth; there was fair division among people like-minded. Not yet did the strong overpower the weak, not yet did the miser hide what he found and so deprive another even of necessities; each cared for his neighbor as himself. ... [The Stoic Philosophy of Seneca: Essays and Letters of Seneca - p. 236-7
Here's another:
I am not speaking of that philosophy {the Epicurean) which looked upon a man, as a citizen, suppose, of the world, unconcerned for his own country; and who discharged the Gods of any concern with human affairs, and who made pleasure a virtue; but of that philosophy (sc. the Stoic) which thinks nothing good but what is fit and honourable; which is not to be corrupted by the gifts of man or fortune; and whose principal value consists in not being to be bought by any thing how valuable soever. Now, I do not think this Philosophy was extant in the first rude age of the world, when as yet all arts were wanting, and men were continually learning the usefulness of things from the use itself; as, before those happy times, when the benefits of Nature lay in common, and were used promiscuously; nor had avarice and luxury disunited mortals, and made them prey upon one another, there were no wise men, though in many respects they acted as such. The state however of mankind was such, that I know of none to be more admired: nor, if God permitted man to form, as he would, terrestrial things, and to establish such manners, as he pleased, among the nations, would he approve of any thing more than what is said to be found among those, with whom
-- Nulli subigebant arva coloni
Nee signare quidem, aut partiri limite campum,
Fas eratj in medium quærebant, ipsaque tellus
Omnia liberius, nullo poseente, ferebat.
Ere this no peasant vex'd the peaceful ground,
Which only turf and greens for altars found';
No fences parted fields, nor marks nor bounds
Distinguished acres of litigious grounds;
But all was common, and the fruitful earth
Was free to give her unexpected birth. Dryden.
What could be happier than the race of man? They enjoyed all Nature in common; she as a kind parent was the protectress of all men; and gave them secure possession of the public wealth, Why mould not I think them the richest of all people, among whom there was not to be found one poor man? But avarice soon broke in upon the world under this happy disposition; and while she endeavoured to Appropriate something to her own use, she hereby made every thing the property of others; and being reduced into narrow straights, from unmeasurable grandeur she introduced poverty; and, from coveting many things, lost all. Though now therefore she would fain recover her pretended rights (ss), and repair her losses;—though she is still adding field to field, and continually driving her neighbours from their possessions, either by force or purchase ;-—though she extends her lands to an equality with provinces;—-and though it requires a long journey to go over all that she can call her own; yet no enlargement of our bounds whatever, can bring us back to the state we were in before: having done all we can, we shall indeed possess much, but then we were in possession of all.
The earth itself was the more fruitful without any laborious tillage; and bountiful enough for the use of a people not given to plunder. Whatever Nature brought forth, they took not more pleasure in enjoying, than in shewing it to their brethren: nor could any one have ^either too much or too little, when every one was satisfied with their own share. The stronger man had not yet laid his hands upon the weak and feeble; nor had the covetous man, by hoarding treasure, excluded others even from necessaries: every one had the fame concern for his neighbour as for himself: war was not heard of; nor were any hands stained with human blood: all hatred and animosity was exercised on wild beasts alone. The peasants whom some thick wood protected from the scorching rays of the fun, and who lived safe from the inclemency of showers and wintry storms under the covering of their homely cottages, passed their nights in tranquillity without a sigh or groan; while anxiety and trouble disturb us under a purple covering, and keep us waking with the sharpest stings; the hard ground lulled them in soft repose (ft). They had no carved roofs hanging over their heads; but often lying in the open air they were canopied by the stars and saw (what a glorious sight in the night-time!) the heavens rolling along, and carrying on their great work in silence. [The Epistles of Lucius Annaeus Seneca (tr.) with large annotations by T. Morell.]
and another
They enjoyed all nature in communality. Nature sufficed for them, now the guardian, as before she was the parent, of all; and this her gift consisted of the assured possession by each man of the common resources.
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