As stated in the Introduction, the economic interest of Greek thinkers was particularly alive in the fields of distribution and consumption. It is here that they are especially interesting and suggestive.[251] However, they dealt very little with the important principles of distribution as laid down by modern economists. Theories of the several elements that enter into distribution—wages, profits, and rent—are for the most part conspicuously absent.[252] The problem of distribution is also hardly considered from the modern standpoint. We look in vain for a treatment of the modern dominant question of the relation between capital and labor. Moreover, the Greek theories of distribution are, on the whole, not the outgrowth of the sentiment of human sympathy for the poor and the common laborer, which is so prevalent today. The purpose seems to be to guard against dishonesty rather than oppression from either contracting party.[253] This lack in Greek theory is not strange, in an age when slaves took the place of machinery, so that capital and labor were largely united in them, while the majority of free laborers worked directly for the public, or on the land.[254] The goal of the theorists, therefore, is the conservation of the state rather than the relief of any class of the citizenship. Plato discusses the importance of a proper distribution of wealth in the _Republic_, but the point that looms large to him is the fact that excessive wealth or poverty is likely to endanger the stability of the state.[255] As seen above, also, some of his regulations in the _Laws_ seem to strike a modern note. He would have a state commission fix prices,[256] would permit the state to limit the freedom of inheritance,[257] and perhaps even intervene in securing a just wage.[258] Yet in all of this, the dominant motive is to avoid civic discord. Before proceeding to the larger subject in distribution, Plato’s theory of private property, we will discuss briefly his attitude toward the laboring classes.[259] It is commonly asserted that the Greek philosophers had little or no regard for the masses. As usually expressed, however, the statement is very unfair, and especially to Plato. Such extreme assertions as the following are frequent: “They [the masses] are of no account altogether.”[260] Plato in the _Republic_ “voue à l’ignominie, au mépris, à la misère, à la servitude éternelle la classe des ouvriers.”[261] “Für die des Erwerb obliegenden Personen bedarf es keiner Erziehung.”[262] “Plato, in treating of the ideal state, deems it not worth while to concern himself with the trading and artisan classes.”[263] “Und im übrigen will er sie [the masses], wie es scheint, durchaus sich selbst überlassen.”[264]