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nydus/A History of Greek Economic ThoughtPublic

This volume provides a reinterpretation of Greek economic theory by examining the relationship between ancient thought and modern humanitarian economy. The text analyzes Greek economic ideas within the context of the contemporary economic environment and provides a bibliography of relevant scholarly works.

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Table of Contents

CHAPTER IV XENOPHON

“resources” with which one begins a project,418 especially in business. It was an easy step from this general business use to the meaning, “financial capital” of a banker.419 Other terms for capital were ἐνεργά, used of interest-bearing capital in antithesis to ἀργά, of goods merely for use;420 κάρπιμα, “goods that yield a produce,” as opposed to ἀπολαυστικά, “goods to be enjoyed,”421 which is suggestive of Mill’s422 definition, “that part of his possessions ... which he designs to employ in carrying on fresh production,” and of his two kinds of capital, “circulating” and “fixed”; ποιητικά, “things for further production,” as opposed to πρακτικά, “things merely for use”;423 κεφάλαιος, of capital as opposed to interest or income.424 The term ἔρανος, also, since it came to mean a “contribution of money,” was often used of a loan, and therefore approached the signification of “money capital.”425

Xenophon is considerably more favorable to labor and the industrial life than are the other Socratics. He quotes Socrates with apparent approval, that to do something well is well-being, while he who does nothing well is neither good for anything nor beloved of God.426 Work is far better than

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