INTRODUCTION 27
philosophical idea which was at odds with popular conceptions of wealth. The
next section confirms this. Aristotle says that there is another type of acquisi-
tion, chrematistike, which aims at wealth without limit, and concedes that most
people think that it is identical with oikonomike (1.3.10.1256b40–1257a3).^128
Aristotle finds this view mistaken because the latter is in accordance with
nature, but the former is not. Here it is clear that the distinction is that of
Aristotle, made on the basis of his philosophical notions of what is natural and
what is not. Further on in the same chapter he refers to those who believe that
it is the function of oikonomike either to maintain one’s financial assets (nomi-
smatos ousian) or to increase them to infinity (1.3.1257b38–41). Once again,
it is clear that Aristotle’s views about the acquisition of wealth should not be
taken as representative of Greek attitudes in general. If one reads the text of
the Politics carefully, one discovers that the science of oikonomia, managing a
household, was on the traditional view aimed at increasing one’s assets, which
implies production for sale in the market.
The popular attitudes to which Aristotle refers are more fully expressed inXenophon’s Oeconomicus, or The Estate-Manager. The aim of the dialogue is
to understand the nature of oikonomia, that is, the skill of managing the oikos,
one’s property.^129 When the dialogue opens, Critobulus is looking for someone
who can teach him to manage his property (Xen. Oec. 1.1–3). The person who
possesses this skill can ‘by taking over the estate of someone else pay all neces-
sary taxes and by making a surplus, increase his assets’ (Xen. Oec. 1.4). Socrates
has a moralistic view of what constitutes an asset; for him anything that does
damage to the moral character of its owner does not count as an asset (Xen.
Oec. 1.7–20). Assuming that the owner is morally good, however, his aim will
still be to increase their property (Xen. Oec. 2.1). This skill does not just enable
men to provide for their needs; it makes them capable of increasing their assets
if they work (Xen. Oec. 1.16). Critobulus asks for Socrates’ advice because ‘I see
that you understand one aspect of creating wealth: making a surplus. So I hope
that someone who makes a surplus out of little can very easily make a large
surplus out of much’ (Xen. Oec. 2.10). After some discussion Socrates says, ‘we
concluded that estate management (oikonomia) is the name of a certain type of
knowledge, and this knowledge was clearly that by which men increase their
property, and that their property was the total amount of what they acquire’
(Xen. Oec. 6.4). Ischomachus says that his father would buy uncultivated plots
of land, make improvements on them, then sell them for a profit (Xen. Oec.
20.26). Socrates compares his father to a merchant who buys grain, then sells it
wherever he can find the highest price. Despite the difference in social status,
the merchant and the gentleman farmer are united in their pursuit of profit.
Socrates therefore concludes that ‘all men love by nature those things that they
think will bring them benefits’ (Xen. Oec. 20.29).