ted; but
it is plain that barter could have no place in the first, that is to
say, in family society; but must have begun when the number of those
who composed the community was enlarged: for the first of these had all
things in common; but when they came to be separated they were obliged
to exchange with each other many different things which both parties
wanted. Which custom of barter is still preserved amongst many barbarous
nations, who procure one necessary with another, but never sell
anything; as giving and receiving wine for corn and the like. This
sort of barter is not contradictory to nature, nor is it any species of
money-getting; but is necessary in procuring that subsistence which is
so consonant thereunto. But this barter introduced the use of money, as
might be expected; for a convenient place from whence to import what you
wanted, or to export what you had a surplus of, being often at a great
distance, money necessarily made its way into commerce; for it is not
everything which is naturally most useful that is easiest of carriage;
for which reason they invented something to exchange with each other
which they should mutually give and take, that being really valuable
itself, should have the additional advantage of being of easy
conveyance, for the purposes of life, as iron and silver, or anything
else of the same nature: and this at first passed in value simply
according to its weight or size; but in process of time it had a certain
stamp, to save the trouble of weighing, which stamp expressed its value.
[1257b]

Money then being established as the necessary medium of exchange,
another species of money-getting spon took place, namely, by buying
and selling, at probably first in a simple manner, afterwards with more
skill and experience, where and how the greatest profits might be made.
For which reason the art of money-getting seems to be chiefly conversant
about trade, and the business of it to be able to tell where the
greatest profits can be made, being the means of procuring abundance
of wealth and possessions: and thus wealth is very often supposed to
consist in the quantity of money which any one possesses, as this is the
medium by which all trade is conducted and a fortune made, others again
regard it as of no value, as being of none by nature, but arbitrarily
made so by compact; so that if those who use it should alter their
sentiments, it would be worth nothing, as being of no service for
any ne