Xenophon
About why doing craft was a shameful affair
Statue of Xenophon of Athens in front of Austrian Parliament building on Ringstrasse in Vienna, Austria / Alamy
Engaging in so-called trades is shameful and, naturally, enjoys a very bad reputation in the cities. After all, trades harm the body of both workers and supervisors, making them lead a sedentary lifestyle without sunlight and in some trades, they have to spend the whole day near the fire. And when the body becomes delicate, the soul also becomes much weaker. In addition, the trades leave very little free time to take care of friends and the hometown. Therefore, craftsmen are considered unfit for friendly society and bad defenders of the homeland.
Xenophon, Oeconomicus, fourth century BCE
