Citizenship and the ownership of land were closely linked (see Oliver below, Chapter 14). In most cities, citizens and land owners were the same people: only citizens could own land and only land owners could be citizens. Democratic Athens was unusual in this respect: only citizens could own land, but citizenship was not limited to land owners. The effect, however, even in Athens, was to assign a high moral and social value to land ownership and farming, as an activity worthy of a politically empowered and active man. This positive view of farming appears in many Greek texts of the fifth and fourth centuries (for example Plato Critias 111E, quoted above, and Xenophon Oikonomikos 5.1-11).
In that case, Sokrates, he [Ischomachos] said, you shall hear now about the beneficence of this craft [farming]. For it is most profitable and pleasant to work at, as well as the most lovely and dear to gods and men. Besides, it is very easy to learn—how could it not be noble? (Xenophon Oikonomikos 15.4)
Here, in Xenophon’s Socratic dialogue about household management, the Oikonomikos, Sokrates has asked Ischomachos, the hard-working gentleman farmer with the ideal estate, to teach him farming and Ischomachos explains to Sokrates why he spends as much time as he can on his farm. In his answer, financial profit and moral gain are interlaced. Moreover, the characters in this dialogue assume that farming is central to the lives of most Greeks and that the basic techniques and principles are familiar to all:
And I think, he said [Ischomachos to Sokrates], you know a great deal without realizing it. For other craftsmen conceal the most critical elements of their craft, but among farmers the one who is best at planting trees would be pleased if someone were watching him, so too the one who is best at sowing. Whatever you were to ask him about the things he does well, he would conceal nothing whatsoever. So, Sokrates, he said, farming appears to produce the most noble characters among those engaging in it. (Xenophon Oikonomikos 15.10)
The implication is that the good and noble citizen is a land owner and a farmer. In Xenophon’s words (put into the mouth of Sokrates):
Those who are able not only to manage their own households, but also to put something by so that they can adorn the city and back their friends, how could they not be deemed solid and sound? (Xenophon Oikonomikos 11.10)
World History
