The necessity of the division of labor between states is also recognized. It is impossible to establish a city where it will not be in need of imports (ἐπεισαγωγίμων). International trade therefore arises, and with it are born the merchant (ἔμπορος) and the sailor class, together with all those who are engaged in the labor of the carrying trade.167
Thus Plato, the idealist, and reputed enemy of trade and industry, develops them directly out of the basal principle of his Republic. He appreciates the necessity of a full-fledged industry and commerce to the existence even of a primitive state, and his hostility to them is actually directed only against what he terms their unnatural use.168
Moreover, in his opinion, one function of the division of labor should be to limit them to the performance of their proper tasks, and keep them from degenerating into mere money-making devices. It should also result in limiting such vocations to the less capable classes since the rulers should be artisans of freedom.169
It would