It seems that in a state it is useless to think of universal wealth and that it is impossible for everyone to be rich because the greed of some is sometimes so extraordinary that all the gold and silver of Peru would not make them happy, and the laziness of others is so great that if it rained gold they would not bother to pick it up. Consequently, because the people are a mixture of those who are good and bad with money, it would be ridiculous to want to enrich some despite themselves and to satisfy the insatiable greed of others.

He can do this by strictly forbidding anyone to take money abroad other than public persons, who are authorized and accredited by the prince and who are involved in general trade with foreigners; by forbidding ministers, under penalty of confiscation and (398) cassation, to have funds abroad; by establishing a depository or public fund where everyone can take his money in complete security, even without ever being subject to any fine or confiscation, except for state crimes and lèse-majesté; by procuring good uses for the funds held in the public depository and ensuring a reasonable return

The Greeks, the wisest legislators among the pagans, forbade their citizens on pain of death to exceed a certain quantity of goods.[^1] They had observed that the greed of men was sometimes so great that in wanting to grow their wealth to infinity and have an excess of superfluities, they deprived others of the means to enrich themselves: they seized with their credit the best affairs that presented themselves and deprived others of them, piling wealth upon wealth, which remained in the end idle and almost useless in their hands because they are even unable to spend the revenues,[^2] to the

Of the Wealth of the People & if it is possible for all the Prince’s subjects to be rich

By common and public superfluities, I mean everything that protects the state from misfortunes and extraordinary situations. I have proposed in the preceding points ways to protect the state from the usual misfortunes that occur through misunderstanding and fear, or even from the excessive greed of individuals who improperly keep and hoard their superfluous grains and money (387) and cause famine and pernicious costliness. When these two formidable enemies of a state are defeated, those that come from the outside will no longer be so difficult to fight.

Also, given that bread is their main and often only food, should not each village have an oven and a common baker who always makes good bread? Instead, by letting it be made by everyone, (384) it sometimes becomes so bad that the health of these poor people suffers considerable damage. I do not even know if we should not build a public barn in every village where all those who do not have the means to build one could keep their grains and hay.

How many conveniences and how much wealth are lost from the poor construction of towns and villages? Streets and houses are made haphazardly at the unregulated whim of each individual, whereas the Prince’s Council and architects should make a general plan for every town and village, even for every house, taking into consideration all the necessary and imaginable conveniences.

The public and common conveniences of the state include all of the prince’s establishments that have as a general goal to shorten as much as possible the time and efforts of the contributors[^1] to public opulence and to accelerate by these amenities the increase of their wealth. There are a number of these kinds of things in (377) every state.

Perfecting this kind of necessity in his states, I mean the public schools, will be the finest enterprise that a prince can do. By applying his greatest (373) concern to the education of youth, he will imperceptibly purge his states of a large number of monsters who are disruptive and stop his wealth from increasing.

Just as in order to decrease and to abolish the lawsuits that distress so many families and that are so pernicious to the state’s wealth, it is not a question of having good judges and good lawyers, but of preventing as much as possible any case from becoming questionable and subject to debate any more. Or, if it (370) does, wise people of integrity should get involved everywhere to reconcile the parties, which should be the business of ecclesiastics who only exist to preach peace, justice and virtue.