REGULATION OF LABOUR. 415 



though having for its first end to enrich himself, has for its 

 second end the prosperity of industry at large. It is a fair 

 inference that on the average his greater knowledge ex 

 presses itself in orders which seem, and sometimes are, bene 

 ficial. Hence it happens that just as, after his death and 

 deification, his commands respecting conduct in general 

 are regarded as sacred, so, too, are his commands respecting 

 the carrying on of industries: there results more or less 

 ecclesiastical regulation of labour. 



Beyond the institution of the Sabbath, and beyond the 

 injunctions concerning slaves and hired servants, we have, in 

 the Hebrew scriptures, detailed directions for the carrying on 

 of industry. There are divine commands respecting plough 

 ing and sowing and the breeding of animals. There are also 

 directions respecting the building of houses and the making 

 of clothes ; even to the extent of prescribing fringes. Among 

 the Greeks observances of times may be named as being 

 based on divine commands. In Hesiod s Works and Days it 

 is said &quot; Mind well, too, and teach thy servants fittingly the 

 days appointed of Jove; to wit, the 30th day of each month, 

 the best both for inspecting work done, and distributing 

 allotted sustenance.&quot; And in pursuance of the same pious 

 conformity there are directions for certain operations on 

 certain days on the sixth &quot; for cutting kids and flocks of 

 sheep, and for enclosing a fold for sheep ; &quot; on the eighth to 

 &quot; emasculate the boar and loud bellowing bull, and on the 

 twelfth the toil-enduring mules; &quot; and on the seventeenth it 

 is appointed to &quot; watch well, and cast upon the well-rounded 

 thrashing-floor Demeter s holy gift ; and let the wood-cutter 

 cut timber for chamber-furniture, &c.&quot; Much of this re 

 ligious regulation was incidental was indirectly consequent 

 on the injunctions concerning sacred seasons, and on the 

 assemblings for worship. Everywhere joint celebrations of 

 festivals have been opportunities for trading. At the present 

 time it is thus in India, where a vast fair is held on the 

 occasion of drawing the car of Juggernaut. So is it with the 



