Trader’s fortunes

Chapter V T rader’ s fortunes It is a fact that a trader needs to have fortune on his side, no less than a physician, as Avicenna said: “ A physicianneeds to have good fortune.” Experience provides evidence of this. Some men are of decent conduct,moderate temper and settled in every way, but their wealth is, nevertheless, constantly in danger ofbeing lost. On the other hand, there are unskilled, inadvertent, reckless and ignorant men whose businessis thriving. Since such circumstances obviously do not result from effort, it appears they are a matterof good fortune. I assume fortune is a gift from nature, because our bodies are under the rule of the stars,and as we differ from each other by our physical features or by our keenness on weapons or books, so is somebody’s fortune more or less favorable dependingon the matter at hand. This is the meaning of Stoic’s words: “W e are to conduct ourselves as our fortuneallows, our fortune is to be relied upon.”