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Thus let there be three straight lines equal to one another. From

one of them cut off a portion, and add as much to another of

them. The whole line thus made will exceed the remainder of the

first-named line, by twice the portion added, and will exceed the

untouched line by that portion.[14] And these terms loss and gain

are derived from voluntary exchange: that is to say, the having

more than what was one's own is called gaining, and the having

less than one's original stock is called losing; for instance, in

buying or selling, or any other transactions which are guaranteed

by law: but when the result is neither more nor less, but exactly

the same as there was originally,[15] people say they have their

own, and neither lose nor gain.

So then the Just we have been speaking of is a mean between loss

and gain arising in involuntary transactions; that is, it is the

having the same after the transaction as one had before it took

place.

Chapter VIII.