Economics

But what of the husbands who, as you say, have good wives, Socrates? Did they train them themselves?There’s nothing like investigation. I will introduce Aspasia to you, and she will explain the whole matter to you with more knowledge than I possess.

I think that the wife who is a good partner in the household contributes just as much as her husband to its good; because the incomings for the most part are the result of the husband’s exertions, but the outgoings are controlled mostly by the wife’s dispensation. If both do their part well, the estate is increased; if they act incompetently, it is diminished.

If you think you want to know about other branches of knowledge, I fancy I can show you people who acquit themselves creditably in any one of them.

Surely, Socrates, there is no need to go through the whole list. For it is not easy to get workmen who are skilled in all the arts, nor is it possible to become an expert in them. Pray select the branches of knowledge that seem the noblest and would be most suitable for me to cultivate: show me these, and those who practise them; and give me from your own knowledge any help you can towards learning them.

Very good, Critobulus; for, to be sure, the illiberal arts, as they are called, are spoken against, and are, naturally enough, held in utter disdain in our states. For they spoil the bodies of the workmen and the foremen, forcing them to sit still and live indoors, and in some cases to spend the day at the fire. The softening of the body involves a serious weakening of the mind.

Moreover, these so-called illiberal arts leave no spare time for attention to one’s friends and city, so that those who follow them are reputed bad at dealing with friends[*](Or, less probably, bad for friends to deal with.) and bad defenders of their country. In fact, in some of the states, and especially in those reputed warlike, it is not even lawful for any of the citizens to work at illiberal arts.

But what arts, pray, do you advise us to follow, Socrates? Need we be ashamed of imitating the king of the Persians? For they say that he pays close attention to husbandry and the art of war, holding that these are two of the noblest and most necessary pursuits.

And do you really believe, Socrates, exclaimed Critobulus on hearing this, that the king of the Persians includes husbandry among his occupations? Perhaps, Critobulus, the following considerations will enable us to discover whether he does so. We allow that he pays close attention to warfare, because he has given a standing order to every governor of the nations from which he receives tribute, to supply maintenance for a specified number of horsemen and archers and slingers and light infantry, that they may be strong enough to control his subjects and to protect the country in the event of an invasion; and,

apart from these, he maintains garrisons in the citadels. Maintenance for these is supplied by the governor charged with this duty, and the king annually reviews the mercenaries and all the other troops ordered to be under arms, assembling all but the men in the citadels at the place of muster, as it is called: he personally inspects the men who are near his residence, and sends trusted agents to review those who live far away.