of the art of getting wealth; had it been so, men would have ceased to
exchange when they had enough. In the first community, indeed, which
is the family, this art is obviously of no use, but it begins to be
useful when the society increases. For the members of the family
originally had all things in common; later, when the family divided
into parts, the parts shared in many things, and different parts in
different things, which they had to give in exchange for what they
wanted, a kind of barter which is still practiced among barbarous
nations who exchange with one another the necessaries of life and
nothing more; giving and receiving wine, for example, in exchange
for coin, and the like. This sort of barter is not part of the
wealth-getting art and is not contrary to nature, but is needed for
the satisfaction of men's natural wants. The other or more complex
form of exchange grew, as might have been inferred, out of the
simpler. When the inhabitants of one country became more dependent
on those of another, and they imported what they needed, and
exported what they had too much of, money necessarily came into use.
For the various necessaries of life are not easily carried about,
and hence men agreed to employ in their dealings with each other
something which was intrinsically useful and easily applicable to
the purposes of life, for example, iron, silver, and the like. Of this
the value was at first measured simply by size and weight, but in
process of time they put a stamp upon it, to save the trouble of
weighing and to mark the value.

  When the use of coin had once been discovered, out of the barter
of necessary articles arose the other art of wealth getting, namely,
retail trade; which was at first probably a simple matter, but
became more complicated as soon as men learned by experience whence
and by what exchanges the greatest profit might be made. Originating
in the use of coin, the art of getting wealth is generally thought
to be chiefly concerned with it, and to be the art which produces
riches and wealth; having to consider how they may be accumulated.
Indeed, riches is assumed by many to be only a quantity of coin,
because the arts of getting wealth and retail trade are concerned with
coin. Others maintain that coined money is a mere sham, a thing not
natural, but conventional only, because, if the users substitute
another commodity for it, it is worthless, and because it is not
useful as a means to any of the necessities of life, and, indeed, he
who is rich in coin may often be in want of necessary food. But how
can that be wealth of which a man may have a great abundance and yet
perish with hunger, like Midas in the fable, whose insatiable prayer
turned everything that was set before him into gold?

  Hence men seek after a better notion of riches and of the art of
getting wealth than the mere acquisition of coin, and they are
right. For natural riches and the natural art of wealth-getting are
a different thing; in their true form they are part of the
management of a household; whereas retail trade is the art of
producing wealth, not in every way, but by exchange. And it is thought
to be concerned with coin; for coin is the unit of exchange and the
measure or limit of it. And there is no bound to the riches which
spring from this art of wealth getting. As in the art of medicine
there is no limit to the pursuit of health, and as in the other arts
there is no limit to the pursuit of their several ends, for they aim
at accomplishing their ends to the uttermost (but of the means there
is a limit, for the end is always the limit), so, too, in this art
of wealth-getting there is no limit of the end, which is riches of the
spurious kind, and the acquisition of wealth. But the art of
wealth-getting which consists in household management, on the other
hand, has a limit; the unlimited acquisition of wealth is not its
business. And, therefore, in one point of view, all riches must have a
limit; nevertheless, as a matter of fact, we find the opposite to be
the case; for all getters of wealth increase their hoard of coin
without limit. The source of the confusion is the near connection
between the two kinds of wealth-getting; in either, the instrument
is the same, although the use is different, and so they pass into
one another; for each is a use of the same property, but with a
difference: accumulation is the end in the one case, but there is a
further end in the other. Hence some persons are led to believe that
getting wealth is the object of household management, and the whole
idea of their lives is that they ought either to increase their
money without limit, or at any rate not to lose it. The origin of this
disposition in men is that they are intent upon living only, and not
upon living well; and, as their desires are unlimited they also desire
that the means of gratifying them should be without limit. Those who
do aim at a good life seek the means of obtaining bodily pleasures;
and, since the enjoyment of these appears to depend on property,
they are absorbed in getting wealth: and so there arises the second
species of wealth-getting. For, as their enjoyment is in excess,
they seek an art which produces the excess of enjoyment; and, if
they are not able to supply their pleasures by the art of getting
wealth, they try other arts, using in turn every faculty in a manner
contrary to nature. The quality of courage, for example, is not
intended to make wealth, but to inspire confidence; neither is this
the aim of the general's or of the physician's art; but the one aims
at victory and the other at health. Nevertheless, some men turn
every quality or art into a means of getting wealth; this they
conceive to be the end, and to the promotion of the end they think all
things must contribute.

  Thus, then, we have considered the art of wealth-getting which is
unnecessary, and why men want it; and also the necessary art of
wealth-getting, which we have seen to be different from the other, and
to be a natural part of the art of managing a household, concerned
with the provision of food, not, however, like the former kind,
unlimited, but having a limit.

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