a gentleman of courtesy and worth. For they
do not pay attention to the argument so much as to the character of the
speaker.

But truly, Socrates, said Erasistratus, though you may be joking,
Critias does seem to me to be saying something which is of weight.

SOCRATES: I am in profound earnest, I assure you. But why, as you have
begun your argument so prettily, do you not go on with the rest? There
is still something lacking, now you have agreed that (wealth) is a good
to some and an evil to others. It remains to enquire what constitutes
wealth; for unless you know this, you cannot possibly come to an
understanding as to whether it is a good or an evil. I am ready to
assist you in the enquiry to the utmost of my power: but first let him
who affirms that riches are a good, tell us what, in his opinion, is
wealth.

ERASISTRATUS: Indeed, Socrates, I have no notion about wealth beyond
that which men commonly have. I suppose that wealth is a quantity of
money (compare Arist. Pol.); and this, I imagine, would also be Critias'
definition.

SOCRATES: Then now we have to consider, What is money? Or else later
on we shall be found to differ about the question. For instance, the
Carthaginians use money of this sort. Something which is about the size
of a stater is tied up in a small piece of leather: what it is, no one
knows but the makers. A seal is next set upon the leather, which then
passes into circulation, and he who has the largest number of such
pieces is esteemed the richest and best off. And yet if any one among us
had a mass of such coins he would be no wealthier than if he had so many
pebbles from the mountain. At Lacedaemon, again, they use iron by weight
which has been rendered useless: and he who has the greatest mass of
such iron is thought to be the richest, although elsewhere it has
no value. In Ethiopia engraved stones are employed, of which a
Lacedaemonian could make no use. Once more, among the Nomad Scythians a
man who owned the house of Polytion would not be thought richer than one
who possessed Mount Lycabettus among ourselves. And clearly those things
cannot all be regarded as possessions; for in some cases the possessors
would appear none the richer thereby: but, as I was saying, some one of
them is thought in one place to be money, and the possessors of it
are the wealthy, whereas in some other place it is not money, and the
ownership of it does not confer wealth; just as the standard of morals
vari