not the result of mere convention, nor altogether the work of inspired lawgivers, but a complex product of natural and artificial elements.72
VALUE
Strictly speaking, Plato’s contribution to a theory of economic value and a definition of wealth is practically nil. In his discussion of just price, he merely hints at the fact of exchange value. He implies that, since goods exchange according to definite proportions, they should have a common quality capable of measurement, and that just price corresponds to this.73 He offers no suggestion as to the nature of this quality, except that, in stating that “the artisan knows what the value of his product is,” he seems to be thinking of labor, or cost of production, as the chief element in value.74
In other passages, he insists on the doctrine taught previously by Democritus,75 and later by Xenophon and other philosophers, that so-called