Leisure. Management of slaves 77 



So indeed it has. In order that all may have a fair share, each 

 citizen's land-lot 1 is in two parts, one near the city, the other near the 

 frontier. Thus we see that all citizens will be interested in cultivating 

 the land. We see also that this will be absolutely necessary: for it is 

 intended 2 that the model state shall not be dependent on imported food 

 (like Athens), but produce its own supply. Indeed commerce is to be 

 severely restricted. What the country cannot produce must if necessary 

 be bought, and for this purpose only 3 will a recognized Greek currency 

 be employed : internal transactions will be conducted with a local 

 coinage. The evil effects 4 seen to result from excessive commercial 

 dealings will thus be avoided. When we turn to the agricultural 

 labour-question, we find that wholesale employment of slaves 5 or serfs 

 is the foundation of the system. For Plato, holding fast to the prin- 

 ciple of specialization, holds also that leisure 6 is necessary for the 

 citizens if they are to bear their part in politics with intelligent judg- 

 ment. As, in this second-best Utopia, the citizens are the landowners, 

 and cannot divest themselves of their civic responsibilities, they must 

 do their cultivating by deputy. And this practically amounts to building 

 the fabric of civilization on a basis of slavery nothing less. In the 

 matter of agriculture, the industry on which this self-sufficing com- 

 munity really rests, this dependence on slave-labour is most striking. 

 It even includes a system 7 of serf-tenants (probably for the borderland 

 farms) who are to be left to cultivate the land, paying a rent or quota 

 of produce (aiTapxn) to the owners. The importance of not having too 

 large a proportion 8 of the slaves in a gang drawn from any one race is 

 * insisted on as a means of preventing combinations and risings. At the 

 same time careful management is enjoined, sympathetic 9 but firm : a 

 master should be kind, but never forget that he is a master: no slave 

 must be allowed to take liberties. To implant a sound tradition of 

 morality is recognized as a means of promoting good order in the 

 community, and this influence should be brought to bear 10 on slaves as 

 well as on freemen. Yet the intrinsic chattelhood of the slave appears 

 clearly in many ways ; for instance, the damage to a slave is made 

 good by compensating 11 his owner. The carelessness of ill-qualified 

 practitioners 12 who treat slaves, contrasted with the zeal of competent 

 doctors in treating freemen, is another significant touch. 



It seems then that Plato, the more he adapts his speculations to 

 the facts of existing civilization, the more positively he accepts slave- 



1 Laws 745 c-e. 2 Laws 842 c-e. 3 Laws 742. 



4 Laws 705. 6 Rustic slaves, Laws 760 e, 763 a. 



6 Laws 832 d. The artisans are not citizens, 846 ^-847 b. 



7 Laws 806 d. 8 Laws 77 7 c. 9 Laws 777 ^-778 a, cf 793 e. 

 10 Laws 838 d. n Laws 865 c , d, cf 936 c-e. 

 12 Laws 720. See Rep 406 on medical treatment of S-r^iovpyol. 



