But in dealings of exchange such a principle of Justice as this
Reciprocation forms the bond of union, but then it must be
Reciprocation according to proportion and not exact equality, because
by proportionate reciprocity of action the social community is held
together, For either Reciprocation of evil is meant, and if this be not
allowed it is thought to be a servile condition of things: or else
Reciprocation of good, and if this be not effected then there is no
admission to participation which is the very bond of their union.
And this is the moral of placing the Temple of the Graces (χάριτες) in
the public streets; to impress the notion that there may be requital,
this being peculiar to χάρις[17] because a man ought to requite with a
good turn the man who has done him a favour and then to become himself
the originator of another χάρις, by doing him a favour.
Now the acts of mutual giving in due proportion may be represented by
the diameters of a parallelogram, at the four angles of which the
parties and their wares are so placed that the side connecting the
parties be opposite to that connecting the wares, and each party be
connected by one side with his own ware, as in the accompanying
diagram.
[Illustration]
The builder is to receive from the shoemaker of his ware, and to give
him of his own: if then there be first proportionate equality, and
_then_ the Reciprocation takes place, there will be the just result
which we are speaking of: if not, there is not the equal, nor will the
connection stand: for there is no reason why the ware of the one may
not be better than that of the other, and therefore before the exchange
is made they must have been equalised. And this is so also in the other
arts: for they would have been destroyed entirely if there were not a
correspondence in point of quantity and quality between the producer
and the consumer. For, we must remember, no dealing arises between two
of the same kind, two physicians, for instance; but say between a
physician and agriculturist, or, to state it generally, between those
who are different and not equal, but these of course must have been
equalised before the exchange can take place.