They are the elements of
true riches; for the amount of property which is needed for a good
life is not unlimited, although Solon in one of his poems says that
No bound to riches has been fixed for man.
But there is a boundary fixed, just as there is in the other arts; for
the instruments of any art are never unlimited, either in number or
size, and riches may be defined as a number of instruments to be
used in a household or in a state. And so we see that there is a
natural art of acquisition which is practiced by managers of
households and by statesmen, and what is the reason of this.
IX
There is another variety of the art of acquisition which is commonly
and rightly called an art of wealth-getting, and has in fact suggested
the notion that riches and property have no limit. Being nearly
connected with the preceding, it is often identified with it. But
though they are not very different, neither are they the same. The
kind already described is given by nature, the other is gained by
experience and art.
Let us begin our discussion of the question with the following
considerations:
Of everything which we possess there are two uses: both belong to
the thing as such, but not in the same manner, for one is the
proper, and the other the improper or secondary use of it.
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