τὰ πολυχρονιώτερα καὶ τὰ βεβαιότερα] Top. Γ 1, 116 a 13, ‘more lasting and more secure, stable, safer’. One measure of the use or value of a thing is the length of time during which it remains in our possession; another, the security or stability of it, immunity from decay or corruption and the fear of losing it. The absence of these very much diminishes the value of any possession. The superiority in the value of a thing is shewn in, or measured by, either the duration or the amount of desire or wishing for it (βουλήσει) because our wishing for it shews that we consider it a secure possession, one of which we are little likely to be deprived, or which itself is not likely to be impaired, and so lose its value. A safe investment, which every one desires who has spare cash, is an example of this kind of security, and of the superiority in value that it carries with it.
Commentary on the Rhetoric of Aristotle. Edward Meredith Cope. Cambridge. Cambridge University Press. 1877.
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