48 Thucydides 



Aristophanes any inkling of the evil days to come? At all events he 

 was aware that poverty works in two 1 ways : if it leads one man to 

 practise a trade for his living, it tempts another to evildoing, perhaps 

 to crime. 



XL THUCYDIDES. 



Thucydides is a writer from whom it is extremely difficult to 

 extract any evidence on the subject of agricultural labour. The pre- 

 eminent importance of the problem of food-supply in the Greece of his 

 day may be amply illustrated from his work ; but mainly in casual 

 utterances, the full significance of which is only to be gathered by 

 thorough examination such as has been made 2 by Dr Grundy. The 

 economic revolution in Attica that followed the reforms of Solon, the 

 extended culture of the vine and olive, the reduced growth of cereal 

 crops, the development of manufactures and sea-borne trade, the 

 growing dependence on imported corn, and the influence of these 

 changes on the public policy of Athens, are now seen more clearly as 

 a whole than ever before. But to the great historian these things were 

 part of the background of his picture. They are parts of a movement 

 taken for granted rather than understood. And the same is true of 

 the existence and application of slave-labour. In the time of Thucy- 

 dides slavery was an economic and social fact, unchallenged. It may 

 be that it affected unfavourably the position of the free handworker in 

 the long run, and gave opportunities to slave-owning capitalists. But 

 this effect came about slowly, and freeman and slave could and did 

 labour 3 side by side, for instance in the great public works promoted 

 by Pericles. How far slave-labour was really cheaper than free is a 

 question beyond my subject. But it is important to note the attitude 

 of the poor citizen towards the question of what we call a living wage. 

 Once the great outlay on public works began to fall off, and industries 

 on a larger scale to compete with the individual craftsman, how was 

 the poor citizen to live? Directly or indirectly, the profits of empire 

 supplied the answer. Now it was obvious that the fewer the bene- 

 ficiaries the larger would be the average dividend of each. So the policy 

 favoured by the poorer classes was a jealous restriction of the franchise. 

 It was not the slave as labour-competitor against whom protection was 

 desired, but the resident freeman of doubtful origin as a potential 

 profit-sharer. 



During nearly the whole of the period covered by the history of 

 Thucydides the public policy of Athens was controlled by urban in- 

 fluences. Even before the rustic citizens were cooped up in the city, it 



1 Ecd 605, Av 712. 2 Thucydides and the history of his age chapters m-vil. 



3 See Francotte L 1 Industrie dans la Grhe andenne livre II cc 5-7. 



