And thus all the good things of Nature and Art are communicated and enjoy'd by the means of Human Commerce or Traffick, which at first was but simple Barter, or changing of one Commodity for another, as it still continues in the unciviliz'd parts of the World.ĥ. So one City helps another, and one Country parts with its Superfluities to another, in lieu whereof it is from thence again suppli'd with what it wants. hence it is that one Man labours and toils not for himself alone, but also for others, and they reciprocally for him. But no Person is born fit for all sorts of Business, some having a Genius for one thing, and some for another nor can any Climate indifferently produce all the Fruits of Earth, being in a very different Situation with respect to the Sun and Stars. It could not therefore but stand in need of several things, which no body can procure by himself alone and this is the reason why we live together in Cities, to help one another by various Occupations, Offices, and Degrees. Our Mortal Body being design'd a Habitation for the Divine and Immortal Soul, was fram'd, as became the Servant of so great a Lady, of a most noble, delicate, and tender Constitution but withal nake and expos'd to the Injuries of Seasons, and Animals.
I must therefore beg your Attention, because I naturally am, and shall this day be purposely sparing of my words.Ĥ. But it shall be with much brevity after our Florentine manner, especially because I come hither to day under a great Infirmity, my old and hereditary Distemper, which has not only render'd me feeble and uneasy, but likewise for many Years a Stranger to Books and Study. Considering therefore the mighty Power and Importance of Gold in Human Affairs and since Socrates, leaving Divine and Natural Things to the Care of the Gods, taught that Morality and Matters of Practice did only belong to us, I esteem it not a mean Subject, nor unseasonable, nor out of my Province (most courteous Academicks) to discourse now before you of Gold, of Silver, and other Coins. We may conclude as much of the Sotry of Gyges a Lydian Shepherd, who walking in a Cave is said to have taken a Gold Ring from the Finger of a dead Man he found there, and putting it upon one of his own, he presently becomes invisible, goes into the Kings' Bed Chamber, enjoys the Queen, by whose Assistance he next murders her Husband, and seizes the Kingdom to himself.ģ. The known Fable of Jupiter's descending into Danae's Lap in a shower of Gold signifies nothing else, but the Miracles which Gold can work. There is not a Rock so hard, said a wise and warlike King, but an Ass loadn'd with Gold may force it. This is likewise the Reason why many have made 'em their Gods, seeing 'em perform almost impossiblities. We may therefore call 'em the second Causes of a happy Life, seeing that by their means we enjoy all those Benefits which render it so. Yet Men, as if they would make Nature asham'd of this, have agreed to make those Metals of equal vaue to all other things, to make 'em the Price and Measrue of all, and the Instruments of changing and exchanging whatever can be found good in this World. Now, Gold and Silver contribute very little in their own nature to our Lives, for which all Earthly Things seem to have been created.
They may in Wire or Leaves be extended to an incredible Fineness, and have something in 'em that is Divine at least certain Indian People think so, who fast when they are digging for Gold, and forbid themselves the Compnay of Women, with all other Pleasures, out of an old Superstition.Ģ. Fire nor Rust will not consume them they are not subject to be destroy'd by Moths, Worms, or Rottenness nor do they waste much by Use. The Sun and Internal Heat do Separate, as it were by Distillation, the best juices and Substances in the Bowels of the Earth which being percolated into proper Veins and Mines, and there congeal'd, grown solid, and ripen'd, they are in time made Metals: whereof the most rare and perfect are Gold and Silver, resembling the two great Luminaries of the World in Splendor and Colour. for Awnsham and John Churchil, at the Black Swan in Pater-Noster-Row, 1696.ġ. Translated out of Italian, by John Toland, London Being publickly spoken in the Academy there, Anno 1588.
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