PRODUCTION
The Greeks had no specific word for production, as we have, since industry, though well developed, was not a dominant feature of Greek life, and economics had not become a separate science. The word ἐργασία, meaning “labor” or “business,” served the purpose. The term was used of productive labor,395 of building or manufacturing,396 of work in raw materials,397 most commonly of agriculture,398 of industries in general,399 of the trades, commerce, or other business for money-making,400 and of a guild of laborers.401 The term ἡ ποιητικὴ τέχνη, “the productive art,” which approaches more nearly to a specific, technical expression, was also used.402 Thus, though there is no clear-cut term for production, the statement of Zimmern403 that the Greeks had no better word for “business” than ἀσχολία, “lack of leisure,” is hardly warranted.
Xenophon was far more interested than Plato or Aristotle in the problem of practical production. His shrewd discussion of agriculture, and his urgent appeal to Athens to increase her revenues by systematic exploitation of the mines, and by the