Text 104: Sir Thomas Elyot, The Gouernor, 1531 (i) (facsimile)

A public wealth is a body living, compact
Or made of various different classes of
Men, which is disposed by the order of
Traditional values, and governed by the rule and mode-
Ration of reason. In the Latin tongue it is
Called respublica, of which the word
Res has diverse significations, and does not
Only mean that, that is called a thing,
Which is distinct from a person, but also
Signified estate, condition, substance, and
Profit. In our old vulgar, profit is called
Wealth; and it is called a wealthy country,
Wherein is all thing that is profitable; and
He is a wealthy man, which is rich in money
And property. Public (as Varro says) is
Derived from people, which in Lain is called
Populus, wherefore it seems that men
Have long been mistaken in calling rempublicam
A common wealth. And they who think that
That is the meaning, that everything
Should be equally distributed without
Discrepancy of any estate or condition, are therefore
More moved by their instincts than by any
Good reason or inclination to humanity. And
That shall soon be obvious to those that will
Be satisfied either with authority or with
Natural order and the example.
First, the proper and true signification of the
Words public and common, which are borrowed
From the Latin tongue for the insufficiency of
Our own language, shall sufficiently declare the
Blindness of those who have hitherto
Held and maintained the said opinions.