[CALLISTRATUS libro tertio de cognitionibus. ] §50.11.2.prSi quis ipsos cultores agrorum uel piscatores deferre utensilia in ciuitatem iusserit, ut ipsi ea distrahant, destituetur annonae praebitio, cum auocentur ab opere rustici: qui confestim ubi detulerint mercem, tradere eam et ad opera sua reuerti debeant.
[CALLISTRATUS in the third book on Cognitions.] If anyone orders the cultivators of the fields themselves or fishermen to carry provisions into the city in order to retail them themselves, the supply of provisions will be cut off, since the rustics are called away from their work: who, as soon as they have brought in the merchandise, ought to hand it over and return to their own tasks.
denique summae prudentiae et auctoritatis apud Graecos Plato cum institueret, quemadmodum ciuitas bene beate habitari possit, in primis istos negotiatores necessarios duxit.
Finally, Plato, a man of the greatest wisdom and authority among the Greeks, when establishing how a state could be well and happily inhabited, considered those merchants to be necessary in the first place.
sic enim libro secundo πολιτείας ait: δεῖ γὰρ πλειόνων ἄρα γεωργῶν τε καὶ τῶν ἄλλων δημιουργῶν καὶ τῶν ἄλλων διακόνων τῶν γε εἰσαξόντων καὶ ἐξαξόντων ἕκαστα· οὗτοι δέ εἰσιν ἔμποροι.
For he says thus in the second book of the Republic: "For indeed, there is need of more farmers, and other artisans, and other assistants who will import and export each of the goods; and these are the merchants.
κομίσας δὲ ὁ γεωργὸς εἰς τὴν ἀγοράν τι ὧν ποιεῖ ἤ τις ἄλλος τῶν δημιουργῶν μὴ εἰς τὸν αὐτὸν χρόνον ἥκῃ τοῖς δεομένοις τὰ παρ’ αὐτοῦ ἀνταλλάξασθαι, ἀργήσει τῆς αὑτοῦ δημιουργίας καθήμενος ἐν ἀγορᾷ;
But if a farmer or any other artisan, having brought some of what he makes to the market, does not arrive at the same time as those who need to exchange their own goods with him, will he sit idle in the market, neglecting his own craft?
οὐδαμῶς, ἦ δ’ ὅς, ἀλλ’ εἰσὶν οἳ τοῦτο ὁρῶντες ἑαυτοὺς ἐπὶ τὴν διακονίαν τάττουσι ταύτην.
By no means," he said, "but there are those who, seeing this, appoint themselves to this service."