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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A37157	A discourse upon coins by Signor Bernardo Davanzati, a gentleman of Florence, being publickly spoken in the academy there, anno 1588 ; translated out of Italian by John Toland.; Lezione delle monete. English	Davanzati, Bernardo, 1529-1606.; Toland, John, 1670-1722.	1696 (1696)	Wing D301; ESTC R10162	15,606	30

Gold it were necessary to look down from Heaven or some exalted Prospect upon all the things that exist or are done upon the Earth or rather to count their Images reflected in the Heavens as in a true Mirror Then we might cast up the Sum and say There is on Earth just so much Gold so many Things so many Men so many Desires As many of those Desires as any thing can satisfy so much it is worth of another thing so much Gold it is worth But here below we can scarce discover those few things that are round about us and we prize 'em according as we see 'em more or less desir'd at any time or in any place whereof the Merchants do carefully inform themselves and for that reason they know the Prices of things better than all others 15. It will not be amiss to illustrate what we have here said by some Examples Water is excellent said Pindar and we could not well live without it But because every one may have enough of it for nothing Jeremy had reason to lament that it could not be procur'd without Price A Mole is a vile and despicable Animal but in the Siege of Cassilino the Famine was so great that one was sold for 200 Florins and yet it was not dear for he that parted with it dy'd of Hunger and he that bought it out-liv'd the Siege So Esau threw away his Birth-right and Esop's Cock contemn'd the Jewel On the contrary Apitius whom Pliny calls a bottomless Gulf spent two Millions and a half of Gold upon his Gut and finding but the fourth part of a Million in his Coffers he poison'd himself for fear as he said of starving And that says Martial was the daintiest bit that ever he swallow'd Aristotle knew how to spend his Money better for he gave for some few Books of Speusippus the Philosopher a little after he was dead 20250 Ducats of the Sun So I reduce the antient Talents after Budaeus to our modern Money that I may be the better understood Alexander the Great gave Aristotle himself forty eight thousand for writing the History of Animals And Virgil receiv'd ten Sesterces a piece for the twenty Lines in the sixth of his Aeneids wherein he laments the Death of Marcellus this makes of our Money 4250 Florins The Vanity of Mankind has set excessive Rates upon Vessels precious Stones Statues Pictures and other trifling Curiosities because they find as much Satisfaction in these as in the quantity of Gold they give for them Thus the Inhabitants of Peru did at first barter Ingots of Gold for Looking-glasses Needles little Bells and the like because they put a high Esteem upon those things then new to them and drew more Satisfaction from 'em than from the Gold and Silver wherewith they abounded And when all the Gold in those Countries shall be transported into ours which must quickly happen if we continue those rich Navigations begun Anno 1534 and then returning with less than a Million of Gold the Spoils of Cucco and K. Atabalipa but now bring from 16 to 18 Millions at a time which has rais'd the Price of things one third a sign that we have more Gold I say that when all the Gold in the Indies is brought into Europe because then it will become a Drug we must either find out something more rare to make Money of or else return to the old way of bartering And let so much suffice concerning the Essence of Money 16. Some maintain that Money was a very ill Invention for this reason viz. That the Desire of other things could not be so great nor the cause of so many Evils as is the Thirst of Gold because so much of those could not be laid up and preserv'd as there may be treasur'd of this I answer with Epictetus that every thing has two Handles and may be well or ill taken and us'd as Reason Physick and Law are often abus'd to the Destruction of Mankind but are they for all this prohibited in the Common-wealth Have all the Philosophers pluck'd out their Eyes like Democritus because the sight of many things takes off the Mind from Contemplation All Steel as they say makes its own Rust and we must learn how to scour it Money was an excellent Invention and an Instrument of doing infinite good if any makes an ill use of it 't is not the Thing but the Person that is to be blam'd and punish'd 17. Some grave and famous Authors have call'd Money the Sinews of War and Government but in my Opinion it may be more properly stil'd the second Blood thereof For as Blood which is the Juice and Substance of Meat in the natural Body does by circulating out of the greater into the lesser Vessels moisten all the Flesh which drinks it up as parch'd Ground soaks Rain Water so it nourishes and restores as much of it as was dri'd up and evaporated by the natural Heat In like manner Money which we said before was the best Juice and Substance of the Earth does by circulating out of the richer Purses into the poorer furnish all the Nation being laid out upon those things whereof there is a continual Consumption for the Necessities of Life From the poorer it returns again into the richer Purses and thus circulating without Intermission it preserves alive the Civil Body of the Common-wealth Hence it may be easily conceiv'd that every State must have a quantity of Money as every Body a quantity of Blood to circulate therein But as the Blood stopping in the Head or the larger Vessels puts the Body naturally into a Consumption Dropsy or Apoplexy c. so should all the Money be only in a few Hands as in those of the rich for Example the State falls unavoidably into Convulsions and other dangerous Distempers Thus it was very near happening at Rome when by reason of the multitude of accus'd Persons of Condemnations Slaughters and Confiscations all the Money was like to come into the Exchequer had not Tiberius distributed two Millions and a half of Gold into the Banks whence it was to be lent to Debtors upon double Security for three Years without any Expence or Interest We ought therefore to set a high Value upon this living Member of the Common-wealth and to preserve it from those Mischiefs which usually befal it when not carefully look'd after such as Counterfeiting Monopolizing Simony Usury and the like already decri'd and known every-where But passing by these I shall now confine my Discourse only to one not so much taken notice of and indeed neglected from the beginning I mean debasing of Coin which increases more and more every day I design to shew the Causes the Damage the Scandal the Remedy of this Evil and so to conclude 18. The Root of this as of all other Evils is Covetousness which has found out many occasions and pretences for debasing of Money But this is the chief that Money being once out of the Mint does

A DISCOURSE UPON COINS By Signor Bernardo Davanzati A Gentleman of Florence Being publickly spoken in the Academy there Anno 1588. Translated out of Italian By JOHN TOLAND LONDON Printed by J. D. for Awnsham and John Churchil at the Black Swan in Pater-Noster-Row 1696. THE TRANSLATOR TO HIS FRIEND SIR I Have twice read over the Book you were so kind to lend me last Week but I found that part of it which treats of Money deserving a more particular Consideration for all the Discourse of late has been almost only of Coin Many of those who pretend to understand this nice Affair have printed their Sentiments about it and such as are Strangers to it are or should be very desirous of better Information I must reckon my self and so must you Sir in the number of the latter for neither my Years nor Employment at the Schools which I left but t'other day will allow me to be Master enough of a thing whereof the Knowledg depends so much upon Business and more acquaintance with the World than I can boast of And indeed I benefited little tho most willing to learn by all the Pieces written upon this Subject till Mr. Lock was pleas'd to favour the Publick with his Thoughts upon it It seems as impossible for that great Man to write obscurely as to publish any thing he does not thorowly understand He has by this and his other Treatise concerning Lowering the Interest of Money given a convincing Demonstration that Business and Observation are not incompatible with the speculative part of Philosophy but if you compare his Book too with what others have said of Coin you have there a Demonstration how ridiculous it is to write from abstracted or Closet-Notions of what must be only learn'd by Experience and Conversation What he has printed therefore gave me entire Content but I 'm infinitely pleas'd with my good fortune in meeting with the Discourse I borrowed from you for it is not only very methodically digested as Mr. Lock 's is but also both these learned Gentlemen notwithstanding one of 'em wrote above an Age ago are of the same mind and sometimes make use of the same Terms about the intrinsick Value and debasing of Coins So all those who reason exactly concerning any thing must be necessarily of the same Opinion and often agree too in their Expressions What pleas'd me further was to find so ample and satisfactory an account within so narrow a Compass of the Origin of Money of its Essence Names and Importance of the Persons who first invented it with the Place and Time likewise an Account of the evil Consequences of debasing or raising of Money and their proper Remedies add to this the Origin of Fairs fo Markets and in one word of all Commerce or Traffick in general Signor Davanzati was every way qualified to perform his Vndertaking being famous for natural and acquir'd Parts not only conversant in Trade and one of the best Arithmeticians of his time but likewise an able Politician as appears by his admir'd Translation of Tacitus and his own original Compositions He compil'd a compendious Treatise concerning the Nature and Knowledg of Exchange reducing according to the Writer of his Life a most obscure and intricate Matter to great Clearness and Facility He did in like manner at the request of the Consul M. Baccio Valori continues the same Author read a publick Lecture upon Coins full of Political Instructions and containing all that can be desired on so vast a Subject That Lecture was the following Discourse which I have been at the pains to translate and my only design now in the Publication of it is to share with others the Benefits I think may be receiv'd by it I never imagin'd the end of my Creation was to be serviceable only to my self I could not learn I 'm sure any thing so unworthy from your Familiarity or Example and I could give but an ill account of my time if having sometimes the Happiness of keeping good Men company I should not entertain more exalted and generous Notions Truly I 'm so far from desiring to live meerly to my self and from preferring a solitary Life that I set no value upon all the Books and Leisure in the World further than they contribute to render me fit for Business and Society especially the Service of God and my Country Those Creatures who perhaps are not to be blam'd for shutting themselves up all their days I judg as useless and contemptible as the Worms that help 'em to consume their Papers My design then being to do what good I could I shall not think it lost if young Persons at least get any Advantage by it which in this or in any other respect they cannot fail of if avoiding Idleness as some dangerous Precipice they seriously apply themselves to Business and Vertue Otherwise as the Writer of our Author's Life says extremely well they are sure to be despis'd in their inglorious Lives and their Names shall be forgotten when they are dead This Piece I confess appears a little too late however it is not my fault for it was by pure accident as you can witness that I came to know of it and almost as soon I send it abroad in this new Dress Besides if all things be well consider'd that part of it which concerns base Coin is now as useful as ever and the Knowledg of the rest cannot be unseasonable at any time But I have no Apology to make except to you Sir for presuming to inscribe such a Trifle and that too but a Translation to one who so well deserves from the World and me I shall only offer that I am not willing to lose any opportunity of shewing my Gratitude and Respect for if herein I have committed any fault my Intentions being sincere I know you 'll grant an easy Pardon to Honour'd Sir Your true and most respectful Servant J. TOLAND Middle-Temple March the 1st 1695 6. A DISCOVRSE upon Coins by Signor Bernardo Davanzati a Gentleman of Florence being publickly spoken in the Academy there Anno 1588. 1. THE Sun and Internal Heat do separate as it were by Distillation the best Juices and Substances in the Bowels of the Earth which being percolated into proper Veins and Mines and there congeal'd grown solid and ripen'd they are in time made Mettals whereof the most rare and perfect are Gold and Silver resembling the two great Luminaries of the World in Splendor and Colour Fire nor Rust will not consume them they are not subject to be destroy'd by Moths Worms or Rottenness nor do they waste much by use They may in Wire or Leaves be extended to an incredible Fineness and have something in 'em that is Divine at least certain Indian People think so who fast when they are digging for Gold and forbid themselves the Company of Women with all other Pleasures out of an old Superstition 2. Now Gold and Silver contribute very little in their own nature