Economics

Now since we know, dear, what duties have been assigned to each of us by God, we must endeavour, each of us, to do the duties allotted to us as well as possible.

The law, moreover, approves of them, for it joins together man and woman. And as God has made them partners in their children, so the law appoints them partners in the home. And besides, the law declares those tasks to be honourable for each of them wherein God has made the one to excel the other. Thus, to be woman it is more honourable to stay indoors than to abide in the fields, but to the man it is unseemly rather to stay indoors than to attend to the work outside.

If a man acts contrary to the nature God has given him, possibly his defiance is detected by the gods and he is punished for neglecting his own work, or meddling with his wife’s.

I think that the queen bee is busy about just such other tasks appointed by God.[*](Cyrop.v. i. 24.)And pray, said she, how do the queen bee’s tasks resemble those that I have to do?

How? she stays in the hive, I answered, and does not suffer the bees to be idle; but those whose duty it is to work outside she sends forth to their work; and whatever each of them brings in, she knows and receives it, and keeps it till it is wanted. And when the time is come to use it, she portions out the just share to each.

She likewise presides over the weaving of the combs in the hive, that they may be well and quickly woven, and cares for the brood of little ones, that it be duly reared up. And when the young bees have been duly reared and are fit for work, she sends them forth to found a colony, with a leader to guide the young adventurers.

Then shall I too have to do these things? said my wife. Indeed you will, said I; your duty will be to remain indoors and send out those servants whose work is outside, and superintend those who are to work indoors, and to receive the incomings,

and distribute so much of them as must be spent, and watch over so much as is to be kept in store, and take care that the sum laid by for a year be not spent in a month. And when wool is brought to you, you must see that cloaks are made for those that want them. You must see too that the dry corn is in good condition for making food.

One of the duties that fall to you, however, will perhaps seem rather thankless: you will have to see that any servant who is ill is cared for.Oh no, cried my wife, it will be delightful, assuming that those who are well cared for are going to feel grateful and be more loyal than before.

Why, my dear, cried I, delighted with her answer, what makes the bees so devoted to their leader in the hive, that when she forsakes it, they all follow her, and not one thinks of staying behind? Is it not the result of some such thoughtful acts on her part?

It would surprise me, answered my wife, if the leader’s activities did not concern you more than me. For my care of the goods indoors and my management would look rather ridiculous, I fancy, if you did not see that something is gathered in from outside.

And my ingathering would look ridiculous, I countered, if there were not someone to keep what is gathered in. Don’t you see how they who draw water in a leaky jar, as the saying goes, are pitied, because they seem to labour in vain? Of course, she said, for they are indeed in a miserable plight if they do that.

But I assure you, dear, there are other duties peculiar to you that are pleasant to perform. It is delightful to teach spinning to a maid who had no knowledge of it when you received her, and to double her worth to you: to take in hand a girl who is ignorant of housekeeping and service, and after teaching her and making her trustworthy and serviceable to find her worth any amount: to have the power of rewarding the discreet and useful members of your household, and of punishing anyone who turns out to be a rogue.

But the pleasantest experience of all is to prove yourself better than I am, to make me your servant; and, so far from having cause to fear that as you grow older you may be less honoured in the household, to feel confident that with advancing years, the better partner you prove to me and the better housewife to our children, the greater will be the honour paid to you in our home.

For it is not through outward comeliness that the sum of things good and beautiful is increased in the world, but by the daily practice of the virtues.Such was the tenor of my earliest talks with her, Socrates, so far as I can recall them.

And did you find, Ischomachus, that they acted as a stimulus to her diligence? I asked. Yes, indeed, answered Ischomachus, and I recollect that she was vexed and blushed crimson, because she could not give me something from the stores when I asked for it.

And seeing that she was annoyed, I said: Don’t worry, dear, because you cannot give me what I am asking for. For not to be able to use a thing when you want it is poverty unquestionably; but a failure to get the thing that you seek is less grievous than not to seek it at all because you know that it does not exist. The fact is, you are not to blame for this, but I, because I handed over the things to you without giving directions where they were to be put, so that you might know where to put them and where to find them.

My dear, there is nothing so convenient or so good for human beings as order. Thus, a chorus is a combination of human beings; but when the members of it do as they choose, it becomes mere confusion, and there is no pleasure in watching it; but when they act and chant in an orderly fashion, then those same men at once seem worth seeing and worth hearing.

Again, my dear, an army in disorder is a confused mass, an easy prey to enemies, a disgusting sight to friends and utterly useless,—donkey, trooper, carrier, light-armed, horseman, chariot, huddled together.[*](Cyropoedia, VI. iii. 25; Mem. III. i. 7.) For how are they to march in such a plight, when they hamper one another, some walking while others run, some running while others halt, chariot colliding with horseman, donkey with chariot, carrier with trooper?