IOAN. FR. MIRAN.

LORD AND COUNT

OF CONCORDIA

ON GOLD, TO HIS WIFE

Book One.

THAT GOLD WAS NOT ALWAYS, FROM THE BEGINNING

of the ages and the start of its own invention, so estimated

by the consent of nations, that it might measure

all other things. Chap. I.

GOLD, which was once so highly valued, and which we now see is everywhere so highly valued, has often come to my mind, my wife, as to the reason why it has introduced such an exquisite estimation of itself into the human mind, and, having introduced it, fixed it there so tenaciously, so that I might understand it by debating more exactly. For I saw that it was accustomed to be sought with such care and such superfluity that it was deservedly said by ancient authors to have derived its name in the Latin tongue from "averting the minds of men" [auertendis mentibus], and it was sought and guarded with such study that it rightly gave the Greeks reason to suspect its name was derived ἀπὸ τοῦ αἰρεῖν [from "taking" or "seizing"], because it was guarded above all other things, and from this the word "treasure" was made. On the other hand, while gold might perhaps seem useful, it was in no way necessary by its own nature, but moved forward by the sole conspiracy of mortals, a mind greedy beyond measure—namely...