Everything that I have just shown about the fixing of the price of life’s necessary things boils down to the general rule that is established and manifested by the natural order: it is impossible to establish true and solid wealth without a proportional exchange of goods in which all contributors[^1] must (263) participate; their power and will to contribute proportionally to its preservation must also be maintained.

The fixing[^1] of everyone’s lot, which benefits the state immensely as I will show elsewhere, (258) has its foundation and its basis in the fixing of the value of life’s necessary things. When the two extremes—so dangerous to a state—that I have just mentioned are no longer able to occur, everyone will be guaranteed the fruits of his labor; and as long as the prince wants to take the same care and make the same arrangements for the less necessary things for life, there will never be costliness or depreciation, and everyone will be more comfortably off than ever before.

By considering that most men hardly appreciate things that are too common and never make proper use of them for their true interests, he will see that it is necessary to prevent this from happening by removing, saving, and even hiding or sending abroad at the right time superfluous portions so that what remains is better appreciated and utilized.

According to the different situations in a state, he could use different means for reaching such a happy end, and it is not too difficult to succeed. Provided the prince does not lend an ear to the people who have an interest in public calamities, (248) especially those called Corn Jews[^1] in Germany, and follows the path that nature itself shows us, he will easily overcome all the obstacles that could oppose this plan.

We often search too late and almost always uselessly for solutions to these very terrible and very pernicious problems for a state, and it is necessary for nature itself and the universal providence of the Creator to come to the rescue and to remedy an ill that men caused by their own mistake. The arrival of an abundant harvest first opens the most hidden and best guarded granaries; all those who carefully saved their grain from fear or greed put it up for sale and want to get rid of it all at once, but they usually pay a high price for their stupidity.

By reflecting on these circumstances, we discover one of the best remedies against the bad distribution of necessities and against starvation and destitution, which occur so often in the kingdoms that nature has best endowed with all kinds of produce necessary for human life.

Is it not appalling to see everyday that in every state in the world a large portion of the people either dies of hunger or becomes unhealthy from bad food while another even larger portion dies or ruins itself from drinking or eating too much, although both could be saved by a fair distribution of necessities. One only has to consult common sense to see that this is an intolerably disruptive situation in a state. To remedy it, it will be good to examine the source of these two extremes and then to pull it up by its roots.

To better explain my feelings on what I have just said, I will go through the three degrees of perfection that wealth contains. The prince must first and foremost attend to procuring for all his people the easy enjoyment of necessities, that is, everything that (227) everyone needs for preserving and perfecting his body and mind. It is true that the laws of all states provide for this in some way, especially by establishing poorhouses[^1] for the poor and public schools for educating the young.

V.

It is, however, no small thing to perfect this harmony and this bond of interests that make a state beautiful and to prevent them from ever being broken. Men[^1] have worked on this with great care in all states since the beginning of the world.