Hobbes - Leviathan.pdf

art, and there is no art in the world but is necessary either for
the being or well-being almost of every particular man; it is
necessary that men distribute that which they can spare, and
transfer their propriety therein mutually one to another by exchange
and mutual contract. And therefore it belonged to the Commonwealth
(that is to say, to the sovereign) to appoint in what manner all kinds
of contract between subjects (as buying, selling, exchanging,
borrowing, lending, letting, and taking to hire) are to be made, and
by what words and words and sign they shall be understood for valid.
And for the matter and distribution of the nourishment to the
several members of the Commonwealth, thus much, considering the
model of the whole work, is sufficient.
By concoction, I understand the reducing of all commodities which
are not presently consumed, but reserved for nourishment in time to
come, to something of equal value, and withal so portable as not to
hinder the motion of men from place to place; to the end a man may
have in what place soever such nourishment as the place affordeth. And
this is nothing else but gold, and silver, and money. For gold and
silver, being, as it happens, almost in all countries of the world
highly valued, is a commodious measure of the value of all things else
between nations; and money, of what matter soever coined by the
sovereign of a Commonwealth, is a sufficient measure of the value of
all things else between the subjects of that Commonwealth. By the
means of which measures all commodities, movable and immovable, are
made to accompany a man to all places of his resort, within and
without the place of his ordinary residence; and the same passeth from
man to man within the Commonwealth, and goes round about,
nourishing, as it passeth, every part thereof; in so much as this
concoction is, as it were, the sanguification of the Commonwealth: for
natural blood is in like manner made of the fruits of the earth;
and, circulating, nourisheth by the way every member of the body of
man.
And because silver and gold have their value from the matter itself,
they have first this privilege; that the value of them cannot be
altered by the power of one nor of a few Commonwealths; as being a
common measure of the commodities of all places. But base money may
easily be enhanced or abased. Secondly, they have the privilege to
make Commonwealths move and stretch out their arms, when need is, into
foreign countries; and supply, not only private subjects that
travel, but also whole armies with provision. But that coin, which
is not considerable for the matter, but for the stamp of the place,
being unable to endure change of air, hath its effect at home only;
where also it is subject to the change of laws, and thereby to have
the value diminished, to the prejudice many times of those that have
it.
The conduits and ways by which it is conveyed to the public use
are of two sorts: one, that conveyeth it to the public coffers; the
other, that issueth the same out again for public payments. Of the
first sort are collectors, receivers, and treasurers; of the second
are the treasurers again, and the officers appointed for payment of
several public or private ministers. And in this also the artificial
man maintains his resemblance with the natural; whose veins, receiving
the blood from the several parts of the body, carry it to the heart;
where, being made vital, the heart by the arteries sends it out again,
to enliven and enable for motion all the members of the same.
The procreation or children of a Commonwealth are those we call
plantations, or colonies; which are numbers of men sent out from the