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In the English translated version of The Spirit of the Laws, there is a sentence as below:
there was an argument the most trifling things, those which humanity would demand, are there done, or there given, only for money
I want to know what "given" means here. I assume it would be an abbreviation of "be given up". Also, why adding "there" before "given"?
A longer excerpt, found here: Uchicago "Montesquieu Spirit of Laws, Republican Government"
"But if the spirit of commerce unites nations, it does not in the same manner unite individuals. We see that in countries [Holland] where the people move only by the spirit of commerce, they make a traffic of all the humane, all the moral virtues; the most trifling things, those which humanity would demand, are there done, or there given, only for money.
The sentence refers to customs in Holland, a particular country, where he claims people are moved only by the spirit of commerce. The word "there" refers to that country. The sense is
In Holland, the humane, the moral virtues, even the most trifling things, are done or given only for money.
The sense of "given" is "are given up", as you thought, or "given away". That is, those things, important or trifling, are not given away freely or generously.
We need a bit more context here; this is from a slightly different translation:
We see that in countries where the people move only by the spirit of commerce, they make a traffic of all the humane, all the moral virtues; the most trifling things, those which humanity would demand, are there done, or there given, only for money.
First, let’s remove the phrase beginning with “those”:
the most trifling things ... are there done, or there given, only for money.
This reveals a case parallelism with the trifling things either “there done” or “there given” only for money.
“there” is in both cases referring back to “countries where the people move only by the spirit of commerce”.
In more modern English, we would say:
These people will neither do nor give any sign of humanity unless they’re paid for it.
