[1256a] As a slave is a particular species of property,
let us by all means inquire into the nature of property
in general, and the acquisition of money, according
to the manner we have proposed. In the first
place then, some one may doubt whether the getting
of money is the same thing as economy, or whether
it is a part of it, or something subservient to it;
and if so, whether it is as the art of making shuttles
is to the art of weaving, or the art of making brass
to that of statue founding, for they are not of the
same service; for the one supplies the tools, the
other the matter: by the matter I mean the subject
out of which the work is finished, as wool for the
cloth and brass for the statue. It is evident
then that the getting of money is not the same thing
as economy, for the business of the one is to furnish
the means of the other to use them; and what art is
there employed in the management of a family but economy,
but whether this is a part of it, or something of
a different species, is a doubt; for if it is the
business of him who is to get money to find out how
riches and possessions may be procured, and both these
arise from various causes, we must first inquire whether
the art of husbandry is part of money-getting or something
different, and in general, whether the same is not
true of every acquisition and every attention which
relates to provision. But as there are many sorts
of provision, so are the methods of living both of
man and the brute creation very various; and as it
is impossible to live without food, the difference
in that particular makes the lives of animals so different
from each other. Of beasts, some live in herds,
others separate, as is most convenient for procuring
themselves food; as some of them live upon flesh, others
on fruit, and others on whatsoever they light on,
nature having so distinguished their course of life,
that they can very easily procure themselves subsistence;
and as the same things are not agreeable to all, but
one animal likes one thing and another another, it
follows that the lives of those beasts who live upon
flesh must be different from the lives of those who
live on fruits; so is it with men, their lives differ
greatly from each other; and of all these the shepherd’s
is the idlest, for they live upon the flesh of tame
animals, without any trouble, while they are obliged
to change their habitations on account of their flocks,
which they are compelled to follow, cultivating, as
it were, a living farm. Others live exercising
violence over living creatures, one pursuing this thing,
another that, these preying upon men; those who live
near lakes and marshes and rivers, or the sea itself,
on fishing, while others are fowlers, or hunters of
wild beasts; but the greater part of mankind live upon
the produce of the earth and its cultivated fruits;
and the manner in which all those live who follow
the direction of nature, and labour for their own
Copyrights
Politics: A Treatise on Government from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.
