Page:The Journal of Classical and Sacred Philology, Volume 1, 1854.djvu/357

 On a passage in the Nicomachean Ethics of Aristotle. 347 It is finally decided that the latter is the rule to be observed, the loss of profit to the superior being made up in honour. If then we interpret the noivcovlai dXXa/crt/cat of Eth. Nic. v. 8, as referring to a similar interchange of friendly offices, instead of to a commercial barter between two traders, the propriety of the expression /car dvaXoyiav /cat firj /car lo-orrjTa becomes obvious. The rich man assists his friend with his purse ; the poor man cannot return an equivalent in pecuniary value, but must make an ac- knowledgment of another kind, such as his circumstances admit. Whereas any rule of commercial exchange must require that the goods exchanged should amount to the same pecuniary value. It is to this latter kind of exchange that the second passage refers, in which it is said, els o-xwa & dvahoylas ov del ayeiv, orav dd- <ovTai, el de pafj, dp,<poTepas eei rds VTrepoyas to erepov aicpov*. The rule of proportion has no place in commerce; for the goods must either be originally equal, or must be made so before an exchange can take place. A little attention to the intermediate parts of the chapter will enable us to understand the somewhat abrupt transition from the one kind of exchange to the other. The sub- ject of friendship ends with the words dvBimiiperfo-ai re yap del rep Xapicrapeva /cat ndXiv avrbv apai x a P l C^f ievov ' ^ n the next sentence, the nature of this exchange in proportion is explained, and its applicability to commerce discussed. Proportion is admissible in commerce only when the ratios composing it are ratios of equality; i. e. when the relation between the two producers and their respective works can be expressed by A : B :: C : D :: 1 : 1. 'Eav p.ev ovv TrpcoTOf rj to /cara ttjv dvaXoyiav 'io~ov, etra to avrnreTrovdos yevrjTai, ecrrat to Xeyopevov. el de U17, ovk 'Lvov ovhe 0-vp.p.evet. ovdev yap KcoiXvei KpelrTOV elvai to daTepov epyov rj to OaTepov, 8ft ovv ravTa lo-aaOrfvai. The remainder of the chapter describes the means by which this equalization is to be effected; viz. by reducing all goods to a pecuniary standard of value, whereby we are enabled to find an exact equivalent for each in money or in money's worth. numbers. In the same sense, the ex- rule of friendship, and giving to the pression al /caret Sid/j.Tpov is used of superior producer the inferior work, logically opposed propositions, de In- the term representing this union will terpr. ch. 10. contain the two extremes of the pro- as if it were eicaTepov. The meaning plied but not stated, will contain the is, that by applying to commerce the two means. Vol. I. November, 1854. 24
 * T6 'iTepov must not be rendered portion, and the other term, as is im-