XXII.4 On the quantity of gold and silver
When the organized polities are masters of the world, gold and silver increase by the day, either because it is obtained domestically, or because it is fetched wherever it is. It decreases, on the contrary, when barbaric nations prevail. We know how scarce these metals were when the Goths and Vandals on the one hand, and the Saracens and Tartars on the other, had invaded every land.