From our comparison of the two definitions, then, it is evident that, though Aristotle is antithetical to Mill in putting the ethical interest first, and though his definition is not so scientifically specific, yet the two agree in recognizing the qualities of materiality, exchange value, and possibility of accumulation as necessary attributes of wealth. We shall see below, also, that the Greek philosopher was the forerunner of the orthodox English economists in criticizing the common confusion of money with wealth.554
But, despite his grasp of the leading principles in the economics of wealth, he takes the same negative moral attitude toward wealth as does Plato, though his hostility is also directed primarily against the spirit that commercializes life and makes unlimited wealth the summum bonum. To his mind, this idea that wealth is the sum of all goods is almost the necessary accompaniment of the possession of superfluous wealth, but it is especially characteristic of the new-rich (νεωστὶ κεκτημένοις).555 Yet Aristotle is too practical to be ascetic. He realizes that leisure (σχολή) is necessary for moral development and for good citizenship, and that this cannot be enjoyed except on a basis of sufficient wealth. A fair competency is therefore desirable for the best life,556 for men should live not only temperately, but liberally.557 Poverty produces civic strife and crime.558 Wealth in the absolute sense (ἁπλῶς) is always good, though it may not always be fitted to a certain individual, or be property used by him.559 Each, therefore, should choose what is good for himself, and use it accordingly.560 All this sounds saner than the subjective notion of wealth taught by Plato. But right here is the secret of the difficulty as Aristotle sees it. Just because all external wealth is good in the absolute sense, the popular error has arisen that it is the final cause (αἰτία) of all happiness,561 whereas the actual relation of wealth to happiness is the same as that of the lyre to the tune. There can be no music without the intervention of the musician.562 External goods are therefore not of primary importance to life. The goods of the soul should be placed first,563 for the virtues of life are not gained and preserved by material wealth, but vice versa,564 and the men of