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.
The principle of the division of labor is clearly stated by him, but here again he differs from Plato in that his prime interest is practical and economic rather than moral. He presents it as the reason why royal dishes are superior in flavor to others, and makes the acute observation that the division of labor is not so fully applied in the small city, because there are not enough consumers to support a man in one trade. In the large city, on the other hand, the consumers are so numerous that even the trades themselves are divided and subdivided. Thus much greater skill is developed, and better results realized, for he who spends his time in work of the narrowest compass (βραχυτάτῳ) must accomplish this in the best manner.436 He does not specify the advantages of the division of labor to industry, except that it results in greater skill, but he reveals especial insight in stating so clearly the relation of the market to the development of the principle.437 In this, he is the forerunner of Adam Smith, who observes that a minute division of trades cannot exist except in the larger cities, especially in coast and river towns.438 The assertion of Haney,439 that the Greeks referred only to a “simple separation of employments,” is certainly unwarranted in the light of this passage, for