Now, notice this point, which is a very important one in the solution of this question: both are free, the one to sell, the other to buy.

Henceforth their respective pretensions go for nothing; and the estimate, whether fair or unfair, that they place, the one upon his verse, the other upon his liberality, can have no influence upon the conditions of the contract.

We must no longer, in making our bargains, weigh talent; we must consider products only.
In order that the bard of Achilles may get his due reward, he must first make himself wanted: that done, the exchange of his verse for a fee of any kind, being a free act, must be at the same time a just act; that is, the poet's fee must be equal to his product.

Now, what is the value of this product?
Let us suppose, in the first place, that this "Iliad"-- this chef-d' oeuvre that is to be equitably rewarded--is really above price, that we do not know how to appraise it.

If the public, who are free to purchase it, refuse to do so, it is clear that, the poem being unexchangeable, its intrinsic value will not be diminished; but that its exchangeable value, or its productive utility, will be reduced to zero, will be nothing at all.