Xenophon is considerably more favorable to labor and the industrial life than are the other Socratics. He quotes Socrates with apparent approval, that to do something well is well-being, while he who does nothing well is neither good for anything nor beloved of God.[426] Work is far better than idleness. It produces more happiness, makes the laborer more temperate and just, and is the _sine qua non_ for the independent life.[427] This is a strong plea for industry, and is especially significant, since it refers primarily, to manufacture rather than to agriculture. The reference, however, is to women workers, whose loss of leisure would not be an injury to the state. Each person is encouraged to provide for himself, and to do his work in the best possible manner,[428] and the maxim of Epicharmus, “For labor, the gods sell all goods to us,” is heartily approved.[429] All the foregoing passages are Hesiodic in their insistence upon the value of industry.[430] But apart from his evident acceptance of the doctrine of Socrates, as quoted above, Xenophon exhibits a positive interest in labor. His attitude toward the advancement of industry and commerce is thoroughly modern, except that he does not contemplate the employment of free citizen labor.[431] He emphasizes labor almost as strongly as natural resources as an important factor in production. He believes also that industrial thrift and prosperity are the best means of realizing a more quiet and orderly state.[432] Even the practical Xenophon, however, is not free from the moral-aristocratic prejudice against mechanical arts (βαναυσικαί) for the better class of citizens. He admits that they are justly spoken against, and held in ill-repute, since they tend to weaken the laborer both in body and in soul.[433] The artisans have no leisure to give either to their friends or to the state, and in a warlike state the citizens cannot be thus employed.[434] The artisan is also servile because of his ignorance of the higher moral sentiments (τὰ καλὰ καὶ ἀγαθὰ καὶ δίκαια).[435] All this sounds like Plato, but Xenophon differs, in that he is in no wise opposed to the unlimited development of industry and commerce, provided the drudgery of it may be done by non-citizens.