evil effects of slavery also could not have been so marked in Greece, before the age of machinery. Moreover, as Meyer has pointed out, a prejudice against manual labor is evident among the more favored classes in most European countries today, yet it does not appear to retard the advance of industry in the least.64
c) The approval of conquest as a legitimate source of wealth. This is somewhat true as applied to the state, but it certainly is irrelevant for the individual citizen of fifth-century Athens. To appeal to Aristotle’s list of legitimate employments as evidence of this is to misinterpret his meaning, for he is thinking of a primitive life, not of contemporary Greece.65
d) Economic facts are a commonplace of daily life, and familiarity breeds contempt.66 This statement contradicts the first reason given by Haney. Moreover, it is somewhat unfortunate as applied to Greece, since the very opposite reason is given for the prominence of political speculation—the commonness of practical politics.