And this is the explanation of the name (TOKOS), which
means the breeding of money. For as offspring
resemble their parents, so usury is money bred of
money. Whence of all forms of money-making it
is most against nature.
CHAPTER XI
Having already sufficiently considered the general
principles of this subject, let us now go into the
practical part thereof; the one is a liberal employment
for the mind, the other necessary. These things
are useful in the management of one’s affairs;
to be skilful in the nature of cattle, which are most
profitable, and where, and how; as for instance, what
advantage will arise from keeping horses, or oxen,
or sheep, or any other live stock; it is also necessary
to be acquainted with the comparative value of these
things, and which of them in particular places are
worth most; for some do better in one place, some
in another. Agriculture also should be understood,
and the management of arable grounds and orchards;
and also the care of bees, and fish, and birds, from
whence any profit may arise; these are the first and
most proper parts of domestic management.
With respect to gaining money by exchange, the principal
method of doing this is by merchandise, which is carried
on in three different ways, either by sending the
commodity for sale by sea or by land, or else selling
it on the place where it grows; and these differ from
each other in this, that the one is more profitable,
the other safer. The second method is by usury.
The third by receiving wages for work done, and this
either by being employed in some mean art, or else
in mere bodily labour. There is also a third
species of improving a fortune, that is something
between this and the first; for it partly depends
upon nature, partly upon exchange; the subject of which
is, things that are immediately from the earth, or
their produce, which, though they bear no fruit, are
yet useful, such as selling of timber and the whole
art of metallurgy, which includes many different species,
for there are various sorts of things dug out of the
earth.
These we have now mentioned in general, but to enter
into particulars concerning each of them, though it
might be useful to the artist, would be tiresome to
dwell on. Now of all the works of art, those are
the most excellent wherein chance has the least to
do, and those are the meanest which deprave the body,
those the most servile in which bodily strength alone
is chiefly wanted, those most illiberal which require
least skill; but as there are books written on these
subjects by some persons, as by Chares the Panian,
and Apollodorus the Lemnian, upon husbandry and planting;
and by others on other matters, [1259b] let those
who have occasion consult them thereon; besides, every
person should collect together whatsoever he hears
occasionally mentioned, by means of which many of
those who aimed at making a fortune have succeeded
Copyrights
Politics: A Treatise on Government from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.
