Note 190-2 — Chapter IV

Thus Aristotle, calls the taking of interest a gain against nature, since money is only a medium of exchange, and cannot produce its like. (Polit., 3, 23, Schn.) Similarly, Plato, De Legg., V, 742, and Seneca, De Benef., VII, 10. Compare, however, Tacit., Annal, XIII, 42 seq. As late a writer as Forbonnais, 1754, accounts for interest thus: Some people hoard their money instead of spending it; hence a scarcity or want of money, and those who need it are obliged, in order to draw it out, to promise to pay interest. (Eléments de Commerce, II, 92 ff.)