Of the other, which
consists in exchange, the first and most important division is
commerce (of which there are three kinds- the provision of a ship, the
conveyance of goods, exposure for sale- these again differing as
they are safer or more profitable), the second is usury, the third,
service for hire- of this, one kind is employed in the mechanical
arts, the other in unskilled and bodily labor. There is still a
third sort of wealth getting intermediate between this and the first
or natural mode which is partly natural, but is also concerned with
exchange, viz., the industries that make their profit from the
earth, and from things growing from the earth which, although they
bear no fruit, are nevertheless profitable; for example, the cutting
of timber and all mining. The art of mining, by which minerals are
obtained, itself has many branches, for there are various kinds of
things dug out of the earth. Of the several divisions of
wealth-getting I now speak generally; a minute consideration of them
might be useful in practice, but it would be tiresome to dwell upon
them at greater length now.
Those occupations are most truly arts in which there is the least
element of chance; they are the meanest in which the body is most
deteriorated, the most servile in which there is the greatest use of
the body, and the most illiberal in which there is the least need of
excellence.
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