A History of Greek Economic ThoughtTrever, Albert Augustus
History
A History of Greek Economic Thought
Trever, Albert Augustus
Economics -- Greece -- History; Thesis (Ph. D.)
Euhemerus wrote a “Sacred Chronicle” (ἱερὰ ἀναγραφή)[1053] of an ideal
society on an island near India, ruled by a priestly aristocracy. Here,
labor was held in high regard. The artisans were in the priestly class,
the farmers were second, and the herdsmen were on an equality with the
soldiers.[1054] All land and other means of production were common,
except the house and garden (κήπου).[1055] The land was not worked
collectively, but farmers and herdsmen alike brought their products to a
common storehouse for common consumption.[1056] Thus neither money nor
commercial class was necessary.
Jambulus, in his “Sun State,”[1057] outdoes even Euhemerus in his
communistic ideas. He describes a sort of paradise of sun-worshipers at
the equator. Here the trees never fail of ripe fruit, and the citizens
never lose their strength and beauty. The whole social and economic life
is under communistic régime. There is collective ownership of all the
means of production, and each must take his turn at each kind of
work.[1058] The communism extends also to the family.[1059] Thus Greek
economic and social speculation, which always contained socialistic
elements, ends in a communism for the whole citizenship, so thorough as
to include both products and means of production, and to demand a
leveling even of the natural inequalities that result from the different
kinds of work.
Footnote 853:
Third century B.C.; cf. Zeller, _op. cit._, II, 1, 986 ff.
Footnote 854:
Cic. _De fin._, iv. 18. 49; Plut. _Adv. Stoicos_, p. 1065: οἱ τοῦ
Ξενοκράτους καὶ Σπευσίππου κατηγοροῦντες ἐτὶ τῷ μὴ τὴν ὑγείαν
ἀδιάφοραν ἡγεῖσθαι μηδὲ τὸν πλοῦτον ἀνωφελές. On Crantor, cf. _Ap.
Sext. Emp._ (Bekker, p. 538, ll. 4 ff.); on the above, cf. Heidel,
_Pseudo-Platonica_ (dissertation, Chicago, 1896), p. 60, n. 5; cf.
also _Def._ 140, of Speusippus (Mullach, _op. cit._, III, 80): πλοῦτος
κτῆσις σύμμετρος πρὸς εὐδαιμονίαν.
Footnote 855:
For discussion of all the _Economica_, cf. _infra_.
Footnote 856:
Born _ca._ 370 B.C. (Zeller, _op. cit._, II, 2, 807, n. 1), a
voluminous writer, from whom a substantial amount is extant, notably
his _Characters_.
Footnote 857:
περὶ πλούτου (_Aspas. in Eth._ 451; and Cic. _De officiis_ ii. 16.
56).
Footnote 858:
Cf. Zeller, _op. cit._, II, 2, 856.
Footnote 859:
Stob. _Flor._ iv. 283, No. 202, ed. Mein.: ὁ αὐτὸς (Theophrastus)
ἔλεγεν ὀφείλομεν ἑαυτοὺς ἐθίζειν ἀπὸ ὀλίγων ζῆν, etc.
Footnote 860:
_Theophrasti Opera_, ed. Wimmer, iii. 231. fr. 86 f.; Plut. _Lycurg._
10.
Footnote 861:
Theoph. _Op._ iii. 182. fr. 78: οὐδὲν πλέον ἔχουσιν οἱ πλούσιοι τῶν
μέτρια κεκτημένων, etc. (Plut. _Cupid. Divit._ 527).
Footnote 862:
Cic. _De officiis_ ii. 16. 56.
Footnote 863:
Porph. _De abstin._ iii. 25.
Footnote 864:
Cf. above on Xenophon.
Footnote 865:
Cf. _infra_ on Cynics; Diog. L. vi. 1. 16; not extant.
Footnote 866:
Diog. L. iv. 12; not extant.
Footnote 867:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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