Note 186 — Chapter XI · SOLONIAN LAWS AND CONSTITUTION.

Aristot. Polit. i, 4, 23. Τὴς δὲ μεταβλητικῆς ψεγομένης διακίως (οὐ γὰρ κατὰ φύσιν, ἀλλ᾽ ἀπ᾽ ἀλλήλων ἔστιν), εὐλογώτατα μισεῖται ἡ ὀβολοστατική, etc. Compare Ethic. Nikom. iv, 1.

Plutarch borrows from Aristotle the quibble derived from the word τόκος (the Greek expression for interest), which has given birth to the well-known dictum of Aristotle,—that money being naturally barren, to extract offspring from it must necessarily be contrary to nature (see Plutarch, De Vit. Ær. Al. p. 829).