[743b]
consequently, the wealth of men who double their gains and halve their expenditure will never be exceeded by the men whose procedure in both respects is just the opposite.1 Now of these men, the one is good, and the other not bad, so long as he is niggardly, but utterly bad when he is not niggardly, and (as we have just said) at no time good. For while the one man, since he takes both justly and unjustly and spends neither justly nor unjustly, is rich (and the utterly bad man, being lavish as a rule, is very poor) ,—
1 e.g.A (a good man) gains (justly) £300, of which he spends £100 on necessaries and £100 on noble objects, leaving him a balance of £l00.B (a not-good man) gains (justly and unjustly) £600, of which he spends £l00 on necessaries, and nothing on noble objects, leaving him a balance of £500. The third type (C) is worse thanBbecause he not only gains but also spends wrongly. TypeAshows how the good man is neither very rich nor very poor,—B, how the bad man may be very rich,—C, how the bad may be very poor.
Plato. Plato in Twelve Volumes, Vols. 10 & 11 translated by R.G. Bury. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1967 & 1968.
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