Aristotle and Slavery in Athens

Aristotle and Slavery in Athens
Author(s): Paul Millett

Source: Greece & Rome, Second Series, Vol. 54, No. 2 (Oct., 2007), pp. 178-209
Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Classical Association
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Greece & Rome,
Vol. 54, No.
2, ?
The Classical
2007. All
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rights reserved
doi: 10.1017/S0017383507000150
AND
ARISTOTLE
IN ATHENS1
SLAVERY
PAUL MILLETT
By
The New
Tribune for 20 December
York Daily
held
the day
pro-slavery
meeting
was
for the South'
Civil
War
(the
lawyer named
Now,
He
O'Connor
to
Gentlemen,
has
has
power
of
condition
has
the
living
and
of
months
eighteen
of bondage
the Negro
is assigned
to labour;
but
the Nature
which
the
to
intellect
which
to make
for
useful
than
'Justice
away). A
by Nature....
created
power
either
that will,
the banner
under
less
as follows:
spoke
that Nature
And
to coerce
capable
that
he
him
denied
(Applause)....
master
was
and
strength,
before
1859 reported
denied
him
himself
him
a useful
and
or
govern
for
the
the will
servant
the master
that
to work.
willingness
to labour gave him

in the
who
in which
clime
governs
he
I
him....
that it is not injustice to leave the Negro in the condition in which Nature
placed him, to give him amaster to govern him...nor is it depriving him of any of his
maintain
to compel
rights
for the labour
himself
and
him
and
to the
to
talent
labour
in return,
employed
and
afford
in governing
to that master
him
and
rendering
just compensation
him
useful
to
society.
defence
of black slavery was
Aristotelian
identified
thoroughly
as
a
in
Karl
modern
Marx,
commentary
Kapital
by
reprinted
on the role of the slave-owner.2
Aristotle's
thinking
That
such
as
on
1At
a panel session considered
of the Classical
Association
for 2005,
the Easter meeting
the
'What's new in ancient Greek
Simon Hornblower
and Hans
question
colleagues,
history?' My
van Wees,
to address
in archaic Athens
chose
broad
issues: respectively,
social differentiation
on
I spoke about Aristotle
for development
in Greek
and possible
themes
history.
By contrast,
a few pages of Greek
on which
there have already been written
very many
slavery in his Politics:
on
of the rewriting
of Greek
in the conviction
that much
pages. This was
history
depends
from different
'A
The original paper was entided
enduring
problems
perspectives.
approaching
on Slavery',
Greek historian
looks at Aristotle
the fact that,
(with his 500 or so pupils)
reflecting
of
undergraduate
pupils have been asked to 'Write a critique
to the value of
that is testimony
slavery'. If this paper has any merits,
as well as pupil, repeatedly
the material.
and representing
rethinking
as I
for encouragement
in writing
this piece;
Schofield
especially
Nichols
his views. Maurie
Maclnness
and Marden
gave prompt
bibliographical
over the past fifteen years,

Aristotle's
theory of natural
to teacher
tutorial-teaching
to Malcolm
I am grateful
take
issue with
all my
assistance.
2
vol. 3, The Process
A Critique
Economy,
of Capitalist
Capital.
of Political
4th impression
1974; first published,
Whole,
1894), 385-6.
(London,

Production
as a
AND
ARISTOTLE
Aristotle's
SLAVERY
IN ATHENS
179
in Book
I
'theory of natural
slavery', presented
a godsend
as to
to pro-slavers
in the Old South,
or defend
to promote
and places wishing
chattel
From
the moral
of
the
institution.3
high-ground
so-called
of the Politics, proved

those in other times
slavery
as
an
it seems
century,
what
they want
twenty-first
will believe
hard
to resist
to believe',
the conclusion
a supposedly
seem from
may
objective
of
The
faced by Classicists
view.
point
problem
to this group
less a thinker
of
than Aristotle
to resolve
have attempted
the difficulty
writers
terms,
As will
treating
be seen,
a majority
a questionable
that might
historian,
best
on
slavery'
conclude
to
relationship
seem difficult
alone
'people
their
insupportable
or at least enlightened
however
views
'Aristotle
that
no
lies in assimilating
self-deceivers.
Recent
in its own
intellectual
as
if in a philosophical
that Aristotle's
theory
vacuum.
bears
at
as it actually was. To
slavery
on common-sense,
to sustain
in
this paper
is firmly
approach
an
epistemological,
grounds. My
on slavery with
locate Aristotle's
respect
thinking
context
in
in
the
Athens;
slavery
specifically
to the practices
the household.
let
to
of
of
to claim this as a key to unlock

the whole
it
wishing
problem,
to clarify
the scope of Aristotle's
It is, however,
may
help
analysis.
a
to
Not
with
disclaimer.
the
least
discus
necessary
begin
significant
Without
sion of Aristotle
with
he prefaces
(n. 18), which
about
ancient
remains
slavery
Necessity
is known
3 For
American
on slavery is by Bernard Williams

the regret
unknown
in his Shame and

that much
to him
of what
personally
use
to defend
of Aristode
and oppose
enslavement
of the South
sixteenth-century
see L. Hanke's
book: Aristotle and the American
Indians
fascinating
(Chicago,
On Aristotle
and Greek Society
in
IL, 1959); briefly, G. Huxley,
(Belfast,
1979), 8-12. Aristode
the Old South: J. D. Harrington,
'Classical
and the proslavery
antiquity
argument',
Slavery and
10 (1989),
Abolition
E. A. Miles,
'The Old South
and the classical world',
The North
60-72;
on the pro-slavery
Carolina Historical
Review
48 (1971),
258-75:
esp. 264-7
theorist, George
Indians,
to D. S. Wiesen,
to American
'The contribution
of antiquity
racial thought'
According
in Early America
Eadie
Traditions
(ed.), Classical
211,
(Ann Arbor, MI,
1976),
'show how Aristode's
natural
slave doctrine
found a far more
comfortable
Fitzhugh's
writings,
on 19th century Virginia
or
home
and exercised
influence
than it ever had in Greece
greater
Rome'.
on the experience
In drawing
of slavery in the Old South,
three classics here stand as proxy for
Fitzhugh.
in J. W.
a mountain
of literature: U. B. Phillips, American Negro Slavery
1966; first
(Baton Rouge,
LA,
The Peculiar
Institution. Negro Slavery
in the American
South
1918); K. M.
published,
Stampp,
the Slaves Made
Roll, Jordan, Roll The World
(London,
1964); E. D. Genovese,
(London,
1975).
see Genovese's
to the work of his predecessor:
to the reprint of Phillips'
Each responds
foreword
racist study. The peculiarity
and frankly
of southern
but paternalistic
groundbreaking
slavery is
on Slavery outside
evident from
the books
'Some Recent Works
reviewed
the
by P. Kolchin,
Studies
in History
United
States. An American
and Society 28 (1986),
Perspective',
Comparative
set it apart from
inter alia, capitalism
in Athens.
and racism
The
of
767-77;
slavery
diversity
out by O. Patterson,
is brought
slavery as an institution
Slavery and Social Death. A Comparative
Study
(Cambridge,
MA,
1982).

ARISTOTLE
180
(106).
rian's
By the
encounter
same
AND
SLAVERY
IN ATHENS
a social
is very much
follows
token, what
on slavery.4
Aristotle
with
histo
II
Aristotle's
discussion
substantive
of
slavery
begins
in ch.3
of Book
of the Politics (1253M); but chs. 1 and 2 show Aristotle
engaging with
of argument,
debates,
using modes
ongoing
forms
and other
of
wisdom
conventional
to
appeals
that resonate
his
through
(commun
analysis
(1252al-7)
and,
[al]ity),
Aristotle's
good,
supreme
This
is an underlying
the
and polis. From
rhetoric,
of slavery.5
established
Having
including
that the polis is a type of koinonia
the supreme
aims
koinonia,
being
initial concern
is with
the nature
theme
outset,
of Book
Aristotle
at
of
the
rule.
1, linking
slavery, household,
the view of unnamed
disputes
the difference
between
that
Plato)
(primarily
ruling over
predecessors
an estate,
one of scale
a state, a kingdom,
and over slaves
is merely
of his 'usual method';
This
he counters
by application
(1252a8-24).6
the composite
whole
into its indivisible
down
that is, breaking
parts.
these uncompounded
is to study
best way to identify
components
from
Aris
koinoniai
have developed
their beginnings.
how the broader
as fundamental:
two relationships
the instinctive
totle designates
The
of female
union
as
to
leave
(as occurs with other animals

and the union
of natural
replicas;
and male
behind
and plants)
ruler and
so
the
the necessi
ruled for the sake of security
(soterid), meaning
naturally
the good
life is impossible
which
ties of life, without
(1252a24-35).
is naturally
the
The
with
person
foresight
(phusei) ruler and master;
a slave. In this way, master
one that can carry out labour
is naturally
4
to my
is P. A. Brunt,
'Aristotle
and Slavery',
in his Studies
in Greek
approach
are: P. A. Cartledge,
343-66.
and Thought
studies
1993),
(Oxford,
Helpful
general
a worm
i'the bud?". A Heterology
of Classical
Greek
40 (1993),
163-80;
Slavery' G&R
'The Economics
and
in Classical Greece
N. R. E. Fisher,
(London,
1993); R. Osborne,
Slavery
at Athens'
in A. Powell
Politics
of Slavery
27-43;
(London,
1995),
(ed.), The Greek World
Closest
History
"'Like
Greek and Roman Slavery

(London,
1981).
are to the Loeb
edition by H. Rackham
MA,
1977); also helpfully
(Cambridge,
rev. T. J. Saunders
Classic
consulted:
introduction,
(London,
1992);
Penguin
by T. A. Sinclair,
4 vols.
Aristotle's
text, and commentary
1887). R. G. Mulgan,
(Oxford,
by W. L. Newman,
structure
of slavery within
of
Politics
locates the analysis
the Politics. The
1977), 38-52
(Oxford,
in P. D. Garnsey's
Ideas of Slavery from
is summarized
Aristotle's
argument
indispensable
to St. Augustine
35-8
likewise P. A. Cartledge,
Aristotle
(in detail
1996),
107-27);
(Cambridge,
T. Wiedemann,
5 References
The Greeks. A Portrait

(Oxford,
of Self and Others
inhuman bondage'
repays study.
(118-51)
6
300E. Terms
258E,
294A,
Plato, Statesman
1993),
120-8,
though
in the text are politikos,
the whole
basilikos,
despotikos.

chapter
'Of
oikonomikos,
AND
ARISTOTLE
and
have
slave
same
the
on
the
drawing
tool is finest
that
of
analogy
serves
barbarians,
Amongst
This
is because
they
used
the multi-functional
here
no
have
necessarily
to
for Greeks
is fitting
barbarian
are
the
same
and
for
translated
as
reproduction
normally
household.
Aristotle
and
'First
rule
by
over
barbarians',
From
these
nature.8
quotes
foremost
an
first
approval
oikos and
that
rulers,
slaves. That
Iphigenia inAulis
arises
security)
but here
'house'
with
so
and male
of female
consists
categories,
each
knife':
(1252a35-1252bl5).
have the same
of natural
class
almost
(and
'Delphic
uses but one

not many
slaves and women
however,
why the poets (specifically Euripides,
(405):
terms
The
are despotes and doulos?

else in the Politics)
are distinct
slave
and
insists
that female
everywhere
Aristotle
koinonia
interest.
181
IN ATHENS
SLAVERY
the
equivalent
Hesiod's
a wife
in
the
explains
1400) say: 'It

that
two
slave
koinoniai
individual
to
and
(for
oikia,
oikos or
the
Works
and
rank.
and Days
for the
ox
an
to his own analysis,

to correspond
glosses
ploughing.'
ox
in
'for
the
stands
the
the
that,
poor,
place of a slave'.
explaining
comes
for
about by nature
that
The
the koinonia
oikos is therefore
of
of
life.
The
business
with
the
stages
remaining
everyday
coping
the verse
He
development may be considered more briefly (1252bl5-53a40).

meet
needs
more-than-daily
was established
households
of self-sufficiency,
to create a kome
the
comes
To
of several
the koinonia
or village. The final stage

to
the
of several villages
is achieved
of koinonia
by
coming-together
a
to
the closest
constitutes
form
self-sufficiency,
approach
polis. This
for
into being
for the sake of life, and existing
with
the polis coming
good
life. Every
polis
exist by
koinoniai
into
and
nature,
outcome.
This
notion
leads
complete
a 'polis-creature'.
as by nature
His
primary
explained
it possible
anthropologically,
to give expression
being
by
the polis
into
nature,
is their
in that
natural
the
characterizing
in this
superiority
the possession
through
to perceptions
of right
the
and
of man
is
regard
of speech, making
and wrong:
'and it
that makes
up the oikia and the polis'
things
over household
has
in nature
therefore
(1253al8).
priority
polis
to
this natural
and individual.
The man who first encouraged
impulse
on
was
a
that
benefactor
the
form
the polis-koinonia
great
grounds
is koinonia
in these
The
tauta
in place of the MSS's
emendation
('carry out labour')
Gomperz's
diaponein
use of doulos, see 202.
('do these things'). For Aristotle's
is followed
The verse quoted by Aristotle
by 'The one sort are slaves, but the other are free
her
context
is the end of a speech by Iphigenia
The
men.'
(1368-1401),
trying to persuade
nature
of Aristotle's
The
is entirely
mother
that her sacrifice
argument,
elliptical
appropriate.
Reading
poiein
8
two meanings
combining
in P. A. Cartledge
Psyche'
is traced by R. Just,
of 'slave',
and F. D. Harvey
(eds.), CRUX
'Freedom,
(London,
and
Slavery
169-88.
1985),

the Female
182
ARISTOTLE
man
is worst
who
are not
of all when
capable
In fact, later
'and other
creatures'
beasts.
AND
SLAVERY
apart from
law and
of
such
forming
in the Politics
are
IN ATHENS
individuals
justice. Those
a koinonia
are not men
but
(1280a31-4,
denied
the
explicitly
slaves
1283al6-19),
a
to constitute
ability
'When devoid
of virtue
(1253a36-7):
(arete),
in
of
and
and
the worst
savage
animals,
unscrupulous
to sexual
This
bleak appraisal
and gluttony'
effec
indulgence
regard
to
the
introduction
of
the
natural
foreshadows
slave, presumed
tively
arete
in
in
his
taken
hand
be entirely
before
master.9
by
being
lacking
continues
Aristotle
polis.
man
is the most
of the polis
block
teleios), he says, consists

those too poor to have
of free
slaves
each
and
citizen,
relationships:
and character
master
and
controlling
'We ought
of each
and
should
complete
building
household
slave; the implication

not head households
(oikia
that
being
as citizens.
in this case,
parts;
child. The
head
of
with
smallest
begins
and wife,
father
and
proper
investigation
and slave, husband
therefore
family
plays
Again,
master
The
(1253M-15).
commu
parts of the political

of the oikos, the basic
the component
Having
distinguished
turns
to
Aristotle
management
nity,
a key role, mediating

as a
with
the polis
household
the
three
through
specified
to examine
the proper
therefore
constitution
the
of these
relations'
He
(1253b8-9).
begins
with
slave.
to observe
his aim as twofold
introduces
(1253b 15-23):
on
a
ten
what has
chreian), and
(pros
anagkaian
practical
utility
bearing
on ideas currently
to improve
In terms of theory, Aristotle
harks
held.
one
see
to those who
will
of
As
back
type
only
ruling.
(wrongly)
Aristotle
to identify
he wishes
emerge,
of the masters,
the interests
slaves,
second
another
rule
over
as despotic,
primarily
of
for the benefit
slaves
in
the
incidentally
only
a
no particular
Aristotle
then
identifies
dignity.
having
one
man
to
'who
maintain
that
for
be
of
theorists,
group
to nature
master
it
is contrary
man's
because
(para phusin),
and
is only convention
(nomoi)
a freeman
and there
is no
that makes
the
one
a slave
and
the other
and
by nature,
on force
As
the
it is unjust,
for it is based
that therefore
(biaion gar)!
an
as
to slavery
from
of opposition
institu
indication
only
antiquity
to
to
Aristotle
felt
this
passage
tion,
explain
why
obliged
helps
If
of
contribute
the
of
his unique
slavery
analysis
slavery.
legitimation
was
not
exactly
under
attack,
difference
it was
between
evidently
them
the
subject
9 The
of ongoing
as lazy, greedy,
in Athens
of slaves
lustful,
treacherous,
presentation
stereotypical
the natural
and stupid
argument:
scheming)
complements
slavery
(even worse,
cowardly,
in the Time of
K. J. Dover,
Greek Popular Morality
servile characteristics:
(n. 5), 73-4;
Garnsey
114-6.
Plato and Aristotle
1974),
(Oxford,

AND
ARISTOTLE
This
debate.10
SLAVERY
be supported
by
of any complementary
may
analysis
IN ATHENS
the
absence
183
from
Aristotle's
of
consideration
'marriage'
as natural
The
(teknopoietike)
relationships.
as
natural
the
of
sequence
prompts
slavery
perceived
so regretted
of Aristotle.
The
that
arguments
by admirers
exposition
on
his own words
with
marked
follows
combines
aspects
emphasis
subsequent
and
'prog?niture'
to defend
need
(gamike)
down
comment.
for subsequent
Ill
Aristotle begins by defining a slave (presumed to be male)
as follows
a view
life,
good
life, which
is a collec
(1253b24-54al3).
heads
of households
include
tion
grounds
other
supporting
necessities
of
'Property
generally
of property
ti
article
(ktema
a self-acting
in being
tools
tool
other
But
not
production
(bios) is about
the master
and
(praxis),
that life
the
acquire
the
living.
is a live
from
tools.
towards
and
slave
differs
can use
action
lifeless
and
tools,
He
empsuchon).'
to
need
both
tools,
of
which
With
to
absolutely
interest. His whole
the
slave
is an
instrument
or
tool
of
or making
this is on the
(poiesis);
not
The
slave belongs
doing
making.
is to serve
all he does
the master's
is to be a tool and possession

of his
function
he
is
he
master;
tasks,
and,
part only of
only physical
performs
out (n. 5), 40,
nature. As Mulgan
the master's
'As a
points
physical
of the status of the slave, particularly
definition
the domestic
slave,
is
That
this is ruthless
but
accurate.'
because
reasonably
perhaps
since
'nature'
(phusis)
Problems
the
make
one
has
been
as soon
crop
up
admixture
emphatic
clear the nature
from the discussion.

absent
entirely
as Aristotle
sums up his slave-criteria
with
of nature:
'These
considerations
therefore
almost
of the
slave
and his
essential
quality
(dunamis):
is a human
to
not
(anthropos)
by nature
being
belonging
a
himself
is by nature
slave...'
but to another
then
(1254a 14-20). He
to the theoretical
view
that 'all slavery
is against
harks back
nature',
it with
do exist by nature
the notion
that such people
and
opposing
who
that slavery
is advantageous
and
just for them
(beltion
kai dikaion).
10 For
the identity of those debating:

G. Cambiano,
'Aristotle
and the anonymous
oppo
new edition
in M.
I. Finley
28-52.
(ed.), Classical
Slavery,
(London,
slavery'
1999),
to represent
On Truth is no longer thought
the view of one such opponent:
Fisher
Antiphon's
traces their intellectual
identi
(n. 5), 76-7
lineage back to the Sophists,
(n. 4), 89-90. Garnsey
inNicomachean
Ethics and Politics as reflecting
between
slavery as presented
fying the disjunction
nents
of
Aristotle's
intervention
in the debate
(107-8,
125-6).

184
AND
ARISTOTLE
is a natural
Who
SLAVERY
IN ATHENS
states
slave? Aristotle
cult to discern both theoretically
the answer
that
is not
diffi
(ek ton
(toi logoi) and empirically
In fact, in the arguments

it is diffi
that follow,
by analogy
ginomenon).
cult to distinguish
between
and
observation
theory
(1254a20-54b23).
are both
conditions
and subordination
The
of authority
inevitable
and
a
to make
combined
composite,
a ruling
is always
and a subject
factor:
even by lifeless
as the
is shown
such
things,
Wherever
expedient.
common
whole,
single,
are
things
there
as
present
by nature,
a
note of
dominant
musical
creatures
consist
of a soul
Living
and a body
the
the former
(soma), with
by nature
(psuche)
ruling
soul rules the body with
of a despotes, the intelli
latter. The
the power
a constitutional
or royal
gence
(orexis) with
(nous) rules the appetites
that this is both natural
and expedient.
it
rule. 'It ismanifest
Similarly,
for tame
is expedient
of their security.' The
is by nature
superior
connection
all men
Therefore
from
being
the
that
lower
things
We
analogy
and ruler,
already
as the
soul
are by nature
inferior
the same
and subject. The

must
consideration
in general.
does
from
the body
for whom
slaves,
and
to be
inasmuch as it is advantageous
is advantageous,
the human
governed
by
to the subject
mentioned.
return
will
as widely
differ
the female
to slavery:
of mankind
back
animal...these
this kind of authority
over by man
in the interests
across to the sexes: the male
ruled
is extended
in the case
apply
to be
animals
is then made
necessarily
scale.
to consider
the
of
implications
these
arguments
by
analogy (193).
At
this
(1254b23-5),
juncture
is naturally
slave. He
the natural
he participates
it (aisthanesthai
backward
glance
are identified
section
of
in reason
alia
(logos)
states two criteria

of
briefly
to
of
and
another,
capable
belonging
so far as to apprehend
but not possess
me
echein).
to the beginning
as those
lacking
the Book,
the household
exploring
(1259bl8-60b8).
Aristotle
This
may
of Book
foresight;
the arete
be complemented
1 (1252a31),
where
to the
and ahead
of
closing
of
members
the various
Specifically
(1260al3),
slaves
What
11
the
entirely
lack
from
of
Aristotle
soul (to
part
a
is
animals
emerges
passages
bouleutikon).
hierarchy:
to feelings,
slaves merely
have no share in logos but respond
apprehend
to
men
it.
deliberative
denied
The
but
free
element,
fully possess
logos,
without
and
is
slaves,
(akuron),
authority
possessed
though
by women,
in an undeveloped
form (?teles).11
by children
suggests
that
the deliberative
by a
slaves
the
these
of Aristode's
of the complexity
conception
Something
and R. D. Hicks,
by F. Susemihl
'family tree' constructed
of the rational
soul is conveyed
by
The Politics of Aristotle, Books I-IV

AND
ARISTOTLE
seems
Aristotle
aware
of a potential
to whether
slaves
as
bafflement
(aporia)
as tools and
usefulness
IN ATHENS
SLAVERY
difficulty,
possess
in service
initial
admitting
arete beyond
their
If slaves do possess
If they do
freemen?
(1259b22-32).
from
virtue, he asks, how are they different
as
status
human
not, how is their
participating
beings,
a
that they need
He
concludes
only
explained?
moral
virtue,
to be
in reason,
amount
small
of
to prevent
in their
them
failing
enough
But
later
and cowardice
(1260a34-7).
just
indiscipline
slaves
(1280a32-4),
are
animals
and
or purposive
decision-making,
prohairesis
in advance
of
action.
According
an essential
is
(1105a29-33),
prohairesis
of moral
Possession
185
however
virtue,
identity with
tasks
in
through
the Politics
to lack the
said
explicitly
which
enables moral
choice
to
the
Nicomachean
a share
suggests
slight,
Ethics
for moral
precondition
virtue.
in reason,
free men.12
implies
the
of the natural
from
slave to logos
Apart
problematic
relationship
two
and arete, Aristotle
The
difficulties.
first
acknowledges
practical
concerns
of
Subser
the physical
slaves
appearance
(1254b25-55a2).
which
of
vience
usefulness
animals
to
of slaves
differs
services
bodily
feelings
little from
are
free
prompts
domestic
the thought
animals:
both
of life. Nature
for the necessities
slave from
distinguish
be erect so as to serve
tion,
their
that
the
produce
to
intended
therefore
in their
freemen
should
physical makeup:
in war and peace;
slaves (by implica
In fact, notes
for necessary
service.
as citizens
to be
strong
comes
the reverse
about:
slaves have
Aristotle,
(pollakis)
frequently
to
bodies
and
freemen
have
souls
that are
freemen,
appropriate
only
were
a
If
there
clear
demon
superiority
(as
appropriate.
physical
no one would
of the gods),
strated
that those
disagree
by statues
stooped)
inferior
there
in physique
deserved
for disagreement
scope
of the soul
by his
is less easily
own
arguments:
some
of whom
people
an institution
dikaion
both
to be
if souls
inferior;
was
Aristotle
discerned.
'It is manifest
are...slaves
expedient
subordinated.
therefore
by nature,
and
Still
is
less, then,
it is just that beauty
are
just'
evidently
that there
and
(sumpherei
for
persuaded
are cases of
these slavery
is
to douleuein
kai
estiri).
of slaves with
159-6. The
association
children,
(London,
1894),
popular
is explored
'Pais "child" and "slave"', L'Ant. Class.
women,
by M. Golden,
in Athenian
and R. Just, Women
Law and Life (London,
188-93.
1989),
and possibly
with
54 (1985),
91-104;
12
or only one of degree,
'If there is no difference,
Detailed
argument
(n. 4), 361-3:
by Brunt
sees that his
He
Aristotle
of slavery
further
concludes
(1259b34-8).'
justification
collapses
to vanishing
that Aristotle
has unwittingly
'reduced
the difference
in potential
point
(363-6)
the natural
slave and the natural master...'.
virtue between

186
ARISTOTLE
Aristotle
slaves
ismore
AND
SLAVERY
IN ATHENS
how non-natural
by the second problem:
to
the focus
of
justly be reduced
slavery;
evidently,
debate
He
that
(1255a3-55b4).
begins
by conceding
might
exercised
contemporary
the existence
those who oppose
of slaves by nature
are, in a way, right
is because
there is a convention
that
(tropon tina legousin orthos). This
to the conquerors,
is conquered
in war belongs
whatever
Xen.
(cf.
to create a 'slave by law' (kata
In this way,
it is possible
Cyrop. 7.5.73).
nomon doulos). Many
of those
the law (en tois nomois)
involved with
hold
that it is a terrible thing if those superior in power have the

of their
victims
some
think
Aristotle
tables
this way.
resolves
seems
Even
the
as follows.13
to be
that
one where
(1255b4-16):
the other where
nature;
contrasting
and the relationship
a way
as to turn the
a
of
upshot
notoriously
tangled
At the end of the day, those who
restrict
barbarians.
there
are
freedom
the existence
to be
conditions
ton sophon)
(kai
their
cite
to the
claim
their
own
supe
They
are only well
well-born
barbarians
(absurdly)
on an appeal
to what
their case hangs
is, after
right
as though
rior nobility
In effect,
born at home.
a
natural
distinction.
all,
concedes
the wise
in such
to enslave
the right of conquerors

overcome
of Greeks
who
Aristotle
among
disagreement
The
opponents.
on his notional
discussion
uphold
as slaves.
force
and
two
of enslavement
paradigms
are
not
sanctioned
slavery
by
causes
of such a distinction
the
advantageous
them to be
community
sumpheron
of friendship
of
(sumpherei)
to both
parties,
so long, that is,
just (dikaion);
as ruling
as despotic
is properly
(hoste kai despozein).
regulated
Ruling
as
is
for
both
the
is
of his
slave
part
badly
parties,
disadvantageous
master.
further
in
this
there
is
'a
certain
Aristotle
that,
way,
explains
between
interest
and friendship
between
slave
in wider Aristotelian
But
esti ti kai philia)\
between
master
and
slave
is fraught
with
and master
terms,
the
(kai
idea
inconsistency.
The reciprocity at the heart of Greek ideas of friendship ('for utility'

in Books 8 and 9 of the Nicomachean Ethics) might be thought to be
if the slave ismerely
part of his master.14
impossible
at first sight offers a possible
The Ethics
resolution
on
a
distinction
between
the slave as a slave
turning
(1161a33-b8),
and as a man.
13 Fullest
discussion
'The Controversy
about Slavery Reported
by T. J. Saunders,
by Aris
I vi, 1255a4fi?
in A. Moffat
totle, Politics,
(ed.), Maistor
(Canberra,
25-36;
1984),
briefly by
Newman
(n. 4), 353-4, Garnsey
(n. 5), i. 150-2, Brunt
(n. 5), 77 n. 4.
14
of establishing
On the difficulty
koinonia between master
and slave: Mulgan
(n. 5), 15-16.
as central
to Greek friendship:
P. Millett,
and Borrowing
in Ancient Athens
Reciprocity
Lending
'Political Friendship
and the Ideology
of
109-26;
(Cambridge,
1991),
qualified
by M. Schofield,
et al. (eds.), Kosmos
in P. A. Cartledge
1998), 37-51.
Reciprocity'
(Cambridge,

ARISTOTLE
Where
there
master
and
the
as
slave
justice
between
ruler
and
slave.
it [friendship] can exist towards him as a human being: for there seems to be
Though
some
room
capable
of participating
also
friendship
hence
187
ruled, as with
can be no friendship
since there is no justice in
the slave benefits
there
is no
used,
by being
or
or
a
towards
lifeless
towards
animals,
things,
though
or
IN ATHENS
SLAVERY
in common
is nothing
slave, there
relation;
friendship
AND
for
in the
justice
in
relations
law
is possible
of
human
every
and
agreement
with
everyone
with
that
is
any other
being
nomou
kai sunthekes);
and
is a human
being.
(koinonenai
so far as he
from
the puzzling
association
of slaves with
law and contract,
Apart
we are returned
to the unresolved
of
the
slave's
problem
humanity.15
The
final
section
of Aristotle's
initial
consideration
of slavery
over
about
slaves
argument
overarching
ruling
over
it
From
the
is
rule
that
slaves
16-40).
apparent
foregoing
a
or
to
identical
that of
other
kinds
of rule: a
statesman,
his
rejoins
(1255b
is not
statesman
controls
over
who
those
men
are by
are free
who
nature
and
slaves.
To
calls
a certain
character.
to master
and
but
particular
knowledge
(episteme),
there could be epistemai
appropriate
would
involve
the various
branches
a master
equal, but
be a master
slave:
rules
not
for
However,
the latter
of domestic
service
(diakonia),
as cookery. The
to
masters
is not domestic
episteme appropriate
work
of slaves (that is a separate matter:
itself, or even the acquisition
a sort of warfare
or hunting).
must
to
the master
know how
Rather,
such
employ
Here
slaves
(cf. 1277a34-5).
on
is where
Aristotle
of Karl
the interest
slavery
engaged
on 'Interest and Profit of Enter
is a chapter
Marx
is concerned
the claim made
with
prise'
(370-90).
by capitalists
a
as
a reward not for their enter
to
share
of
(and slave-owners)
profits
but for the effort
in organizing
involved
labour.
prise,
dependent
Marx.
The
broad
context
the speech
before
Immediately
on
the proper
Aristotle
Greek)
slaves
(1255b30-6).
employing
cant
reward
to the
effect
of
He
undercuts
by the slaveowner-capitalist
that the labour of managing
by
15
tells
Implications
how
of friendship
those
who
between
master
can
slaves
and
afford
quotes
(in
in
('the capitalist')
the claim to any signifi
further quoting
Aristotle
important or dignified branch of knowledge.

Aristotle
Marx
lawyer O'Connor,
role of the master
is not
Indeed
a particularly
(adds Marx),
it employ
slave are discussed
an
by Brunt

overseer
(n. 4), 366-9.
188
AND
ARISTOTLE
signs
devoted
the 'honour'
while
(time) of this drudgery,
they
or philosophy.16
to politics
to define master
suffice
and slave' is how Aristotle
may
substantive
off his
to broader
1
of slavery, with
the rest of Book
In fact, what
follows
in the
to our discussion.
relevant
As has been
discussion
issues
of oikonomia.
is more
Politics
IN ATHENS
on
to take
(epitropos)
devote
themselves
'So much
SLAVERY
than marginally
1 (1259bl8-60b8)
of Book
examines
the
critically
members
of
oikos
virtues
In
Book
the
slaves).
possessed
by
(including
over slave
notes
3 (1278b33-7),
that the authority
Aristotle
of master
the
seen,
end
in the greater
'governs
but
master,
slave...'.
between
towards
with
the
a view
interest
of the
to that
of
the
sumbebekos)
a
on
to put
further
strain
the idea of
thought
master
and slave.17 But the most
inconsis
striking
(kata
incidentally
This might
be
friendship
a view
with
degree
in the final book

Aristotle
appears
(1380a32-4).
promises
to
do so): 'How slaves should be employed,
later (but fails
explain
that all slaves should
it is advantageous
have
their freedom
why
tency
before
them
statement
348:
as a reward...'.
with
the notion
freed
which
impossible
to reconcile
and
set
that bare
it (n. 4),
puts
slavery. As Brunt
a free man'.
An addi
potentially
is provided
will,
by he
complication
by Aristotle's
by which
own
a number
an
act to
of his
slaves
5.14-15);
(Diog. Laert.
we will return.18
'the "living
tional
It seems
to
chattel"
of natural
was
always
IV
The
above
downright
is a selective
contradictions
of the difficulties,
analysis
in Aristotle's
inherent
and
inconsistencies,
of
natural
theory
a common
reaction
he
when
(n. 5), 107 represents
slavery. Garnsey
of a 'battered
of a theory'.19
It is true that scholars
writes
shipwreck
16Marx
sees the tone of time as sarcastic. The

be a slave (Pericles'
epitropos would
probably
or metic
a freedman
Plut. Peric.
Sosias: Xen.
16.5), possibly
Euangelus:
(Milyas: Dem.27.19;
so demurs: Xen. Mem.
Poroi 4.15), hardly a citizen
2.8).
(Eutherus
17
cannot be
'for if the slave deteriorates
of the master
continues:
the position
The passage
an over
saved from injury'. Brunt
situations
presents
(n. 4), 374-5
hypothetical
(food-shortage,
or
to sacrifice a slave rather than himself
loaded lifeboat)
in which
the master might
be expected
to replace a slave, restoring
his family: it is always possible
role as master.
the freeman's
18 For
to a subject of rights as 'the most
metamor
from an object
the transition
complete
one can imagine',
see B. Williams,
and Necessity
Shame
108; on
CA,
1993),
phosis
(Berkeley,
as 'slavery eased': Garnsey
manumission
(n. 5), 97-101.
19
the trend, R. Sallares
in his Ecology
Greek World
(London,
1991)
of the Ancient
Against
of ants to justify the notion
the world
that (211-12):
'Aristotle's
concept
insights from
provides
in
contains
idea' (comprehending
the germ of a very important
the polis
[of natural
slavery]
terms of biological
models).

ARISTOTLE
AND
tried to argue
regularly
countered
within
the terms
have
moral
relate
189
can in fact be
that many
of the problems
of the theory
and
of Aristotle's
itself,
to credit
A recurring
theme has been
abuses. Others
slavery of its worst
as presented
1 to slave labour as conceived
in
in Book
as responding
7 and 8, or read Aristotle
to
of Books
the slave
'best
Plato's
state'
than
of slavery.20 Rather
to rescue Aristotle's
theoretical
presentation
attempts
repeated
for the merits
of an alternative
reflect
the tensions
of chattel
no
IN ATHENS
in general.
philosophy
to reform
with
the desire
Aristotle
the
SLAVERY
real
and
intellectual
reason
for which
slavery;
resolution.
approach:
evasions
how
with
directly
I
shall
argue
credit,
Aristotle's
difficulties
engage
in the
inherent
the perceived
two
of preparation,
further exploration.
institution
admit of
problems
recent encounters
But, by way
on slavery deserve
in Shame
Bernard Williams
and Necessity
(n. 18) has the overall aim
to our
that
the
moral
outlook
of
the
of demonstrating
Greeks
is nearer
with
Aristotle
own
than
Plato
often
and Aristotle
as an adequate
to
he aims
understand
Specifically,
so as better
(103-17)
depends
(106). Williams
'clearly
grasp
approach
to understand
theoretical
constructions
us closer
bring
the matters
of
Greek
to
in question'
about
thinking
our own
of
'what we
can
(111).
slavery
of it as
whether
rejection
on conceptions
not available
to the Greeks
themselves
as
at least some of Aristotle's
inconsistencies
regards
unjust
ideological
circle'. He
the
thought. Moreover,
do not necessarily
the result
products,
of trying
to square
the ethical
is especially scathing of the possibility of friendship with a
as a man,
but not as a slave: 'amore
than usually
evasive deploy
ment
least satisfactory
of one of [Aristotle's]
devices'
philosophical
from
in
these
'inconsistencies
themselves,
(110). Apart
being revealing
are also illuminating
commentators
and strains'
in the way modern
slave
have
seized
judiciousness'
upon
has
them.
For
deserted
20 The
in which
detailed ways
on slavery would
Aristotle
make
are
treatments
attempts.
(Earlier
it seems, Aristotle's
once,
'omnipresent
him.
Scholars
therefore
relief at
express
to terms with
and others have tried to come
is a selection
of more
accessible
study. Here
'La Th?orie
Aristot?licienne
by R. Pellegrin,
Revue
107
Aristotle
the would-be
reformer:
345-57.)
d'Esclavage',
[1982],
Philosophique
Susemihl
and Hicks
5th edn.
Newman,
(n. 5), i. 144-58;
(n. 11), 24-6; D. Ross, Aristotle,
(London,
1949), 240-2; Huxley
(n. 3); J. Chuska, Aristotle's Best Regime
(Lanham, MD,
2000),
303-4.
1 as paving
in Book
7-8: Chuska,
the way for Books
297-8,
289; R. Schlaifer,
Slavery
philosophers
a revealing
summarized
to Aristotle',
47 (1936),
of Slavery from Homer
HSCP
165-204
(reprinted:
I. Finley
to
in Classical Antiquity
[ed.], Slavery
93-132).
[Cambridge,
1968],
Responding
Plato: E. Sch?trumpf,
'Aristotle's Theory
of Slavery. A Platonic
Ancient Philosophy
Dilemma',
on Slaves
et al.
13 (1993),
'Aristotle
in J. Barnes
and Women'
74-111; W. W. Fortenbaugh,
ii. 135-9; N. D. Smith,
'Aristotle's Theory
of Natural
(London,
(eds.), Articles on Aristotle
1977),
'Greek Theories
M.
Slavery',
Aristotle's
Phoenix
Politics
27
(1983),
[Oxford,
109-22
1991],
(reprinted:
145-55).
D. Keyt
and F. D. Miller
[eds.], A Companion

to
190
ARISTOTLE
AND
IN ATHENS
SLAVERY
as Aristotle's
own
their
'embarrassment',
justifying
identify
of these chapters
from the main
body of his work.
segregation
to
to
read
of slavery as peculiar
Aristotle's
Williams
prefers
analysis
or struc
allow to be ultimately
he cannot
his view of the world, which
what
they
Its incoherence
is, in part, the result of how he wanted
unjust.
saw enslave
to be understood.
In general
free Greeks
terms,
slavery
was
as an arbitrary
ment
that
It
therefore
understandable
calamity.
turally
slaves would
necessary,
contribution
not even from

for complaint;
grounds
on
based
enslavement
of those to
of argument,
mode
His
that
philosophical
be no
there would
understood,
the slaves.
whom
as
and even resist. Slavery
itself was regarded
complain
neither
distinctive
(117). Aristotle's
just nor unjust
being
was to attempt
to justify the system:
run and
if properly
role was
not
dead-end:
antiquity'
(115).21
Malcolm
contrast,
By
and
'Ideology
Philosophy
was
to nature,
in Williams'
contrary
'these
ideas did not have much
in his
Schofield
earlier
slightly
of
Theory
Slavery'
extent
ideological.22
in Aristotle's
is not to any significant

the theory
a set of 'views,
means
Schofield
ogy',
or
tainted by the social origin
somehow
that
who held
inter
alia
them'. He
is held
because
of
the
of
analysis
concludes
or beliefs
ideas,
the social
interests
identifies a philosophical
rational
eyes a
in
future
By 'ideol
that are
of
those
belief as 'one which
considerations
which
are
on slavery
as an
to be regarded
Is Aristotle
in its support'.23
an
to
shared
articulate
among
belief,
attempt
widely
ideological
and slaves (espe
that it was right for most masters
better-off
Greeks,
to occupy
their respective
roles; or is it the
slaves)
cially barbarian
offered
at
of purely
reflection?
argues
(2). Schofield
philosophical
was
not
the
the
result
of
Aristotle's
of
that
slavery
analysis
length
of ideological
that
characteristic
'false
consciousness'
is,
belief;
or
a
He
considers
delusion
under
(3).
insincerity
labouring
practising
outcome
Aristotle
to be
committed
to
the
examining
issue
by
reason
inde
pendent of common belief and prepared to be critical of it (6).

There
formulated
is an
initial
problem:
by Aristotle
the
(basing
at
'endoxic
least
method'
initial
as
famously
on
investigations
21 In
slave theory had a
has since demonstrated
that natural
fact, Garnsey
(n. 5), 13-16,
N. Fisher
Shame and Necessity
(Classical Review
reviewing
history both before and after Aristotle.
of natural
45 [1995], 71-3)
argues for a wider acceptance
slavery through Greek
society.
22 In G.
inM.
'Politik' (G?ttingen,
1-27; reprinted
Schofield,
1990),
(ed.), Aristoteles
Patzig
115-40.
the City (London,
1999),
Saving
23 For the
see E. A. Havelock,
The Liberal Temper
of Schofield's
opposite
analysis,
emphatic
the Politics on slavery as 'the work of a
in Greek Politics
1957), 342-50,
(London,
characterizing
mind
that has...brought
every
one
of its prejudices
and moods
to total abstraction'

(340).
ARISTOTLE
AND
SLAVERY
or
endoxon
has
for ideology
'elective
'reputable
opinions')
affinity'
on
to
closer
his
But,
Schofield,
investigation,
according
to
not
to
with
be endoxic
proves
regard
slavery
(8-9).
(7-8).24
approach
the
Although
at work
by Schofield's
The
obvious
inconsistencies
(12-16).
is simultaneously
an
a man;
be
inconsistency
charity' (14).25 Schofield

supposed
is not
incapacity
'And
with
with
incompatible
(1255b26,
strength may best be

model
for the natural
psychological
'childlike
adult...a
they cannot
is at
one commonly
of interpretative
slave
strategic
'expository
favoured
purpose
on
initial emphasis
1260b20);
as
recognisable
for these
appropriate
acquire
least
the exercise
perfectly
is not
paternalism
Presuming
at the
he argues
that deliberative
Briefly,
a range
of suitable
like
skills,
seen
children,
and
reason
that this line of approach may
proposes
physical
of the
can
there
them:
inconsistencies.
cookery or shoemaking
True
that
and
perceive
are they different
from non-slaves?
Need
all this
for by ideology
accounted
in? Not
so,
breaking
occur
and
in
elsewhere
the
anomaly
inconsistency
for dealing
strategy
eliminate
is exploitative
relationship
slaves
interest;
slave's
Schofield,
suggests
works
of great philosophers:
employed
conclusion
so how
arete,
possess
the
the
reference
are highlighted
a slave
(12-13):
and (for the purposes
of friend
tool'
'ensouled
the master-slave
in
time
to
to women),
that
(particularly
'False consciousness
its way
may have eaten
on these questions'
is apparently
(11). This
treatment
of 'anomaly
and inconsistency'
with
apply to slaves:
into his thinking
unevenly
out
borne
come
1 might
of Book
reader
is hard
ideology
need not
ship)
same
191
IN ATHENS
exaggeration'.
by Schofield
The
is that
sort of human
being'.
in that, unlike
people
of their own (15-16).
(as Schofield would wish) that this is a defensible piece
of Aristotelian
it in the Politics,
advanced
why has Aristotle
philosophy,
for ideological
reasons?
Schofield
that the 'mainspring
suggests
of the argument'
1 is not slavery at all, but (rightly, as we have
of Book
if not
'how many
seen,
180)
occasions
that Aristotle
introduces
tics (19), it is to distinguish

was
There
slavery
therefore
in contemporary
ally emerge;
especially
of
forms
no
rule
political
reason
society.
in regard
are
there?'
master-slave
On
the
relations
subsequent
into the Poli
rule from that of the despotes.
for Aristotle
to
his own
However,
to the assumption
take
any
attitudes
stand
on
occasion
that barbarians
are
'
classic exploration
of the endoxic method
is G. Owen's
ta phainomena'
Tithenai
in
et al. (eds.), Articles on Aristotle
ii.l 13-26
inM. Nussbaum
(London,
1975),
(reprinted
[ed.], Logic, Science and Dialectics,
[London,
1986],
139-51);
briefly, Cartledge
(n. 5), 121-2.
25
The notion
of 'interpretative
is helpfully
discussed
and D. Keyt,
charity'
by S. M. Cohen
Plato's Arguments'
in J. C. Klagge
and N. D. Smith
'Analysing
(eds.), Methods
of Interpreting
Plato and His Dialogues
to Malcolm
I owe this reference
Schofield.
1992),
(Oxford,
173-200;
24
The
J. Barnes

192
ARISTOTLE
AND
SLAVERY
IN ATHENS
slavish. As Schofield
this is 'a nasty piece
observes,
naturally
not
but
he
concludes
that this does
consciousness'
(21-2);
'The false consciousness
of slavery
itself:
Aristotle's
theory
work
when
He concludes
that
stops theorising.'
from the reality of
is a sort of 'insulation'
of theory
or otherwise
to be a
theory does not explicitly
pretend
or indirectly
concerned
with contemporary
slavery'
there
'The
slavery:
directly
theory
This
'infect'
to
gets
in Book
1 of
Aristotle
the Politics
of false
in formulating
his theory
of slavery, was
idea, that Aristotle,
as
it
with
existed
around
him
in
concerned
actually
hardly
slavery
to many
commentators.
is common
The
idea
Athens,
fourth-century
appears
inW. Ambler's
explicitly
on Nature
'Aristotle
paper,
and Poli
tics. The Case of Slavery' (Political Theory 15 [1987], 390, 404), taken
up with enthusiasm by Schiitrumpf (n. 20), 121: 'It should not be
that Aristotle's
then,
theory
for the understanding
irrelevant
surprising,
completely
conditions
in ancient
Greece.'
The
of
slavery...is
the reality
runs
theme
of
identical
almost
of
social
through
which:
'is
(n. 5),
analysis
slavery
by no
Garnsey's
to offer a justification
means
for the system of slavery as it
concerned
'His general
in his time' (11, author's
strategy
italics); how:
operated
our
from
attention
the
involves
(thousands
of) actual
distracting
on
an
us
to
and
focus
unnatural
model
slaves,
imaginary
forcing
on
of Aristotle
slave...'
that:
concluding
to slaveowners
(105);
support
of actual master/slave
descriptions
logical
'Natural
slave
than
rather
theory
offered
for
prescriptions
relationships'
(127).
modification
of this verdict.
encourages
range of reasons
to issues elsewhere:
the endoxic
there is Aristotle's
approach
A
noted
and
above,
cultural
Ethics
of
that makes
historians.
'friendship
worked
friendship
his
explorations
For
broadening
or
Overall,
method,
for social
potentially
helpful
his model
in the Nicomachean
example,
for utility' has seemed
in other contexts.26
Of
to explain much
about how
this is precisely
the
course,
out
of
the
analysis
singles
slavery as
room
manoeuvre
for
in
is, however,
who
by Schofield,
point disputed
on endoxa. There
not dependent
to which Aristotle's
the degree
analysis
the possibility
realities.
Schofield
accepts
endoxa,
ideo
out
the phainomena
of slavery
of a more
Aristotle
to perceived
relates
flexible
is anxious
of
concept
to pursue
(7).
In his presentation
is apparent
ence. That
26 On Aristotle
integration
Ideology
of slavery,
in modes
Aristotle
wishes
of argument
to win
over his
reminiscent
see the items in n. 14. For the analogous

the practicalities
of friendship,
oeuvre: M.
I. Finley, Ancient
into Aristotle's
and Modern
Slavery
slavery
118-19.
1980),
and
of natural
(London,
audi
of law-court

ARISTOTLE
use
speeches:
exhortatory
not necessarily
clear);
SLAVERY
of delon
arguments
and just';
'both
phrase
AND
expedient
to non-philosophical
appeals
193
IN ATHENS
irony ('even among

authorities:
Hesiod,
seems
at issue
(when the point

some
concluded
with
estin
on
variant
the
the wise...');
and
Euripides,
and
apparent
proverbs.27
to the persuasive
is Aristotle's
of his
Essential
process
grounding
to
his
of
in
realities
familiar
audience
slavery
philosophical
exposition
some practical
for their benefit
It may
be
and delivering
pay-off.
that Aristotle
recalled
the
with
that
intention
his account
of master-slave
prefaces
on current
it will not only improve
also have a bearing on practical utility

out
points
a possible
(14),
intelligent,
justify the
totle's
of
theory
but
ideas,
(1253b 15-17). As Schofield
of Aristotle's
explanation
incorporation
was
slaves
is that his
'real motivation
craft-practising
institution
actual
(1254a20-54b23)
promises
slaves both
theoretically
is basically
What
follows
relations
as he
of
slavery
to demonstrate
knew
the
it'. Aristotle
of
to
also
of natural
existence
(ek ton ginomenon).

empirically
a
of Aris
argument
by analogy:
key feature
The
is essentially
rhetorical
slavery.
technique
(introduced by Aristotle
(toi logo?) and
in his Rhetoric,
1393a22-94al8):
choosing
the circumstances,
seemed persuasive.28
As Aris
that, under
analogies
in
totle addressed
his all-male,
audience
upper-class
predominantly
a society
neither
the Lyceum,
he nor they could easily have imagined
it was
in which
should
good,
emphatically
be subordinated
thought
by many
dubious)
analogy
is locked
slavery
As
standing.
Aristotle's
follows,
27
'The
The
is symptomatic
of
a socio-cultural
on
broad
writes
(11),
two
issue of rhetoric
of Aristotle's
Aristotle
to
Greek
on
its under
approach
from his
realities.
In what
is taken.
inNicomachean
Politics:
Aristotle
on the Foundations
K. O'Connor
(eds.), Essays
104-11.
1991),
28 For
as a persuasive
rather
than
analogy
Polarity and Analogy
1966), 403-14.
(Cambridge,
D.
in which
essential
context,
to
it is possible
directions:
different
slavery from
or from contemporary
philosophy,
the second path
"infrastructure"
the way
into
Schofield
views
own moral
sensible
that women,
for their own
accepted
to men;
still less that animals might
be
to have rights. Argument
people
by (to us
not
Ethics and Politics

is raised by A. N. Shulsky,
on economics
and politics'
in C. Lord and
Political Science
CA,
of Aristotelian
(Berkeley,
a demonstrative
argument:
G.

E.
R.
Lloyd,
194
AND
ARISTOTLE
SLAVERY
IN ATHENS
V
of slavery
that can be pieced
from the Politics
is
picture
together
too problematic
to be sustained
of an institution
in prac
seemingly
is to address
tice. The
aim in this and the following
sections
that issue
The
an apparent
with
That
'inconsistencies
and
is, how so-called
paradox.
may be read to reflect
anomalies',
apart from being delimited,
slavery
as it was perceived
in
slave-owners
Aristotle.
Athens,
by
including
The first stage of the argument
is, in one sense, the least controver
the
sial:
of
identification
as slaves
surprise
identified
in classical
us.
slaves
in Athens
with
barbarians.29
a reality of Athenian
represented
thinking
to identify
even a handful
it is impossible
least, Aristotle's
often
remarked,
In broad
Athens.
in other
Slaves
terms
historical
slave-societies
have
outsiders.
According
= Wiedemann
6.265b-c
slavery. As
of Greeks
not
this need
been
historically
of Theopompos
to a fragment
with
at
Here,
were
the
84), the Chians
were
to use
not
who
Greek
slaves,
'acquiring
people
a price
and paying
for them'.30 The
classic
demonstration
speakers
are
on
indicated
from Athens
is the collection
of slaves whose
origins
(Athenaeus
first Greeks
[n. 3],
the public
'Attic Stelae',
auction
of slaves
recording
to
and
metics
in
citizens
confiscated
the
aftermath
belonging
wealthy
of the Herms.
Of the thirty-two
slaves whose
of the Mutilation
nation
or names
is recoverable
from
ethnics
formed
from
explicit
ality
the
so-called
ethnics,
only two are possibly
either
'Messenian
woman',
in
Messana
Sicily.31
But
what
of
originating
some
concern?
expressed
three possibilities:
or through
unconditionally
were
there
statistical
for
that,
29
a former
slaves
Aristotle
breakdown,
fourth-century
but
a woman
Greek:
or
death,
enslavement,
It is impossible
collected
there
was
and
a non-Greek
as prisoners-of-war,
For
those Greeks
ransom).
the passages
Athenians,
from Macedonia
helot
or
from
about
whom
taken
in war
release
to arrive
(either
at a
suggest
by Pritchett
an expectation
that
as fitted for slavery: E. Hall,

barbarians
the
material
identifying
Inventing
190-200.1
inconsistencies
between
Aristotle's
pass over the apparent
(Oxford,
1989),
as slaves: Asiatics
in spirit, but
of barbarians
and their suitability
may be deficient
description
see Fisher
not in intellect;
(n. 4), 380-1.
(n. 4), 96; Brunt
30
back
into presumed
Chian
Ethnic
reads current practice
origins.
possibly
Theopompus
as a characteristic
of slave societies: Patterson
difference
(n. 3), 176-9.
31 R.
and D. M. Lewis
(eds.), A Selection
(Oxford,
Inscriptions
Meiggs
of Greek Historical
or attributed
to Greeks,
that are Greek
it seems likely that 'Pistos',
1988), no. 79. Of the names
more
as
to slaves. Three
are described
and
'Charias' were
thought
'Satyros',
appropriate
Non-Aristotelian
Barbarian
oikogenes or
overall claim
'born
(n. 3),
to Patterson's
from Athens
in the house'.
The
does not conform
evidence
of enslavement.
that birth was by far the most
132-37,
important method

AND
ARISTOTLE
SLAVERY
IN ATHENS
in war would
be
captured
or executed.32
Did Athenians
extend
fellow-citizens
enslaved
to those
tion
they
be
enslaved
selves
by
inflicted
combined
227-8.
Aegean
The
be
the
seems
passage
same
rather
than
accommoda
to be Xenophon's
in 404 feared they would
is that
and Diodorus:
the Athenians'
Pritchett
unwonted
(n. 32),
harshness
was not
harsh
in the
equally
reprisal, which
In fact, the ending
of this 'War Like No Other'
as restoring
a more
norm
to this aspect
merciful
of
From
warfare.33
case
ransomed
the Spartans,
the treatment
copying
they had them
on other Greek
out by the
borne
communities;
implication
fear of an
read
biguous
key
that the Athenians
testimony of Thucydides
engendered
event forthcoming.
might
defeated?
statement (Hell 2.2.14)
195
the
fourth
there
century
of Athenians
rather
is only
than
one
unam
initially
enslaving
ransoming:
to Athens
at sea in
after victory
3,000
prisoners
brought
by Chabrias
376 (Dem. 20.77,
of slaves in Athens
80). The overwhelming
majority
were barbarians
to the category
and therefore
assimilable
of natural
slaves.
an unfortunate
of warfare,
confronted
consequence
by
to a minor
be reduced
cases
may
Aristotle,
anomaly.
Exceptional
could
be
wrote
As Aristotle
in Parts
safely
ignored.
of Animals
we
nature
to
'to
have
consider
the
of
(663b27-29),
study
majority
or
is universal
in a majority
what happens
cases, for it is either in what
of cases
So,
that nature's
Equation
of
slaves
ways
with
are to be found'.34
barbarians
nature
also weakens
Aristotle's
other
not
that
but
problem:
slips up
just occasionally
in attributing
to
bodies
and
slave
free.
Aristotle
appropriate
more
the issue by claiming
that souls matter
than bodies;
but
of thought
Greek
habits
in
persevered
imputing
appropriate
physical
to slaves.
attributes
associated
with
Aristotle's
'ideal'
Frequently
practical
pollakis
avoids
32
W. K. Pritchett,
The Greek State at War,
(Berkeley, CA,
1991), v.203-312.
33
is Victor Hanson's
a record of murder
The description
and
(London,
2005), who provides
across
enslavement
'The Thirty Years Slaughter'
return to 'normal
A fourth-century
(182-91).
'Zur Humanit?t
in der Kriegf?hrung
des griechischen
ity' is supported
by F. Kiechle,
Stadt',
Historia
7 (1958),
129-56
Pritchett
fails
(esp. 155-6).
(n. 32), 203 n. 297, that Kiechle
objects
to consider Dem.
no reference
to the fate of prisoners.
but the passage
contains
Across
9.47-50,
as a whole,
on the relative
comments
Patterson
106-15
of
slavery
(n. 3),
infrequency
mass-enslavement
in support figures
for Greece
from P. Ducrey,
Le
through warfare,
citing
traitement des prisonniers
de guerre dans la Gr?ce antique (Paris,
110. It may be noted
that
1968),
Aristode
refers to the capture and sale of prisoners,
which
could lead to eventual
as
redemption;
in the case of capture by pirates
(see the note below).
34
other methods
of enslaving Greeks,
the role of piracy seems conspicuous
Regarding
by its
absence from Aristotle;
to mind
because
it would
have brought
the unfortunate
possibly
experi
ence of Plato
routes
to slavery presumably
had negligible
(Diog. Laert.
3.20)? Other
impact:
errant daughters
of citizens; metics
out on tax-payments.
had
missing
Although
debt-bondage
been abolished
were possibly
for citizens
not immune: Menander,
in Athens,
metics
Hero 28-36
(with Millett
[n. 14], 64, 78).

196
ARISTOTLE
natural
SLAVERY
slave
slave's
is Theognis'
uncompromising
is never upright,
but always
rose or a hyacinth
never
comes
head
neck.
does
a free
has
(2.4)
AND
child
Socrates
from
IN ATHENS
'A
(535-8):
description
a
and
he
has
bent,
slanting
a sea-onion:
from
a slave woman.'
no more
in his
Xenophon
Symposium
are
in the gymnasium
exercising
a characteristic
odour. Aristocratic
may
perspectives
the
of
slave
and
with
the
free,
by
iconography
state
by
distinguished
be complemented
former
routinely
depicted
small, or ugly,
tionately
that free men
by vase painters
or tattooed.
The
and on
stelae
as dispropor
slave was
ugly
archetypal
a
as pot-bellied,
and
Thracian,
Aesop,
traditionally
imagined
a
weasel-armed,
hunchbacked,
squalid,
squinting,
swarthy midget
are plenty
with
crooked
of modern
for this
parallels
legs.35 There
of
false
consciousness.
The
species
upper-class
patrician
politician
to have
on seeing
is reputed
expressed
surprise,
from the Western
Front
that the lower-classes'
skins
bathing,
so white.36
was
of slaves' enduring
status as barbarians
Symbolic
Curzon
George
soldiers
were
custom
the
of
them
after
their
ethnic
Thratta,
naming
origin:
a
reminder
for the owner
each time they
Karikon,
Syros;
comforting
were
are taken from the
addressed
less so for the slaves. The names
seen slaves overwhelmingly
identi
Stelae, where we have already
was
their
of
notion
of ongoing
barbarism
by
place
origin. The
reinforced
the Scythian
in
archer
by
predictably
stereotyping:
a
barbarous
form
of
Aristophanes'
Thesmophoriazusae
speaks
suitably
Attic
fied
Greek
The
(1001, 1082, 1176).

clearest
of slavery
of his
evidence
is the
concern
of Aristotle's
trio of contradictions
repeatedly
by slaves
out
apparent
theory:
possession
their vestigial
with masters,
friendship
of manumission.
Aristotle
possibility
ical grips
the contradiction
with
and
everywhere
on the treatment
at all times:
that
with
and
here
of reasoning
power,
the
universal
(less directly)
strives to get to philosoph
is at the heart
how
namely,
of a designated
group
the practicalities
as arising
identified
slavery
of people
of chattel
slavery
depends
ultimately
as if they were
in
35 The
is K. Hopkins'
from his 'Novel Evidence
for Roman
138
description
Slavery', P&P
3-27
in R. Osborne
in Ancient
Greek
and Roman
(reprinted
[ed.], Studies
Society
a
the whole
of which
has
relevance
for my
For
206-25),
[Cambridge,
2004],
analysis.
see P. Cartledge
of a misshapen,
Illustrated
vase-painting
(ed.), The Cambridge
crippled Aesop,
Greece
in
illustrations
of slaves can be found
History
of Ancient
1998), 6. Further
(Cambridge,
zum Problem
der griechischen
N. Himmelmann,
Sklaverei
for a
(Mainz,
1971);
Arch?ologisches
(1993),
a Louisiana
selection:
Fisher
125-6
records
(n. 4), 8, 54, 74, 88. Stampp
(n. 3),
slaveowner's
of James, a runaway
slave: 'His look is impudent
and insolent,
and he
description
holds himself
straight and walks well.'
36
The
is all the more
anecdote
D. Gilmour,
Curzon
(London,
telling for being apocryphal:
1994), 438.
small

AND
ARISTOTLE
SLAVERY
197
IN ATHENS
as human
in reality,
those
deficient
But,
way or ways
beings.
so
are
of
full
the
human
called
members
slaves
race;
that, given
people
reassert
itself. The
the opportunity,
will
their underlying
humanity
out long
looms
pointed
slavery. Stampp
large in black
phenomenon
states
the
the
of
in
law-codes
ago (n. 3), 189-229,
slave-owning
tangle
some
of the Old South as they tried to legislate inter alia for the criminal
of slaves.37 Aristotle's
aporia about the slave's possession
responsibility
in the emotional
of arete is magnified
turmoil
by Mark
experienced
owes
he
the
feels
Finn.
white
Twain's
The
poor
boy
Huckleberry
an
reader
for
apology
emotions
human
escape.38
The
slave's
forms;
unwanted
from
repeatedly
of humanity
view, both
assertion
the master's
are rebellion
of the proper
of despotic
taining
other
aims
who
being
benefit
ence
power
avoidance
attributed
their own
positive
that
enslavement,
slaves
and penestae
and
(1333b37-34a2).
citizens
hostility
Aristotle
list
does
the main
the
slaves;
those
enslaving
is
Comparable
act
as bodyguards
explicitly
by Aristotle
(1269a34-bl3):
in
understandable
Aristotle
happened.39
of military
for citizens
training
over those who
to be
deserve
is considered
to the
(in part)
servile under-class.
some
a range of outward
and negative.
Obviously
to chattel
with
respect
But
of
proper
to
him
take
never
from being
to helots
may
resistance,
which,
from Aristotle;
attention
objects
comment
Xenophon's
slaves. Revolt
other's
a runaway
slave, with
over
agonizes
helping
and
no direct
receive
slaves,
the case of revolt, which
as one
Jim,
crediting
and
why
of neighbouring
on the problem
against
with
each
refer
they rebel
states
is
without
the
of policing
in the Laws on slave
to slaves, echoing
Plato
are
asks
relations
How,
Aristotle,
(homil?a) with
(776d-778a).
to be managed?
the helots
If left to their own devices
they
(aniemenox),
are insolent
to
if
and
think
their
themselves
masters;
(hubrizousi)
equal
are
to
and
made
suffer
they plot against
they
(kakopathos)
hardship
has
helots
relevance
control
37
slave's
that a
in a dilemma
whenever
they found
caught
with his status as a person'
(189); note, however,
a brief statement
of slav
of the 'inherent contradiction
were
'But legislators
and magistrates
status as property was
incompatible
from Patterson
(n. 3), 196-7. For
see D. Brion Davis,
The Problem
62-3. My
in Western Culture
of Slavery
(Oxford,
1988),
comes close to J. Lear in Aristotle.
to Understand
The Desire
192-9,
approach
1988),
(Cambridge,
sees Aristotle
not uncritically
as scrutinizing,
who
of slavery; but I do
the institution
defending,
en masse (199).
not follow his conclusion
to enslave barbarians
that Aristotle
itwrong
thought
38
to the Folio
See C. Ward's
The Adventures
brief
introduction
edition: Mark
Twain,
of
Finn
(London,
Huckleberry
1885).
39
The
distinction
of
between
'revolt'
is apparent
from
and
'unrest'
Phillips'
catalogue
outbreaks
of violent
from
which
slave resistance
he revealingly
the Old South
(n. 3), 464-88,
lists under
the heading
'Slave Crime'.
The
of slave resistance
(revolt to running
spectrum
away)
is covered by Genovese
(n. 3), 585-657.
dissent
ery',

198
AND
ARISTOTLE
hate
them.
with
Plato
treatment
In the Laws,
who
himself)
punishment
with
them.40
allow
of
(1330a25-30),
as Plato
state; but
Oeconomica
in the requirement
cient arete to avoid
inherent
18)
for
akolasia
anger
scuttles
representing
Freedom
in his belief
passage
to be
too
is implicit
and
spirited
of
author
the
a precaution
in the Politics
to have
suffi
or
of the
in
incompetent
the Nicomachean
imperfectly
out of the
listening
room before
to
slave who
Ethics
reason.
he
has
puts
in a
(1149a25-8),
slave
The
heard
all
the
in their
ignorance.
'A Troublesome
in his chapter
by Stampp
sheds light on a largely unre
the whole
of which
is cited
(n. 3), 103,

of Greek
aspect
ported
slavery
slaveowner
William
Pettigrew
Property'
Plato's
unwittingly)
40
the Peripatetic
Aristotle
cites
to bungle.
his
like to interpret
he proceeds
One would
as covert resistance.
The
slave Frederick
Douglass
escaped
in his classic autobiography
from 1885, My Bondage
and My
the
in
artful
slaves
which
ways
81-2,
(n. 44),
encouraged
blundering
describes
The
In the Politics
nationality.
land in the ideal
farm
who
is
(185). Non-compliance
indiscipline
or admonition
of slaves,
advice on nouthesia
Aristotle
advocated
Plato
(1260b5-8).
by
appearance
over-zealously
orders, which
and
not
jesting
not
to
same
the
demonstrate,
slaves
is advice
and Aristotle
is to slaves
778a)
regard to
For Plato,
not
and
about
identified
in firmness:
lies
solution
slaves
slave-systems.41
sense of non-cooperation
in Aristotle's
metaphorical
of
slaves
in place of the punishment

from
surely writes
experience
master
ordering
to Plato
(Laws
(1344b
to existing
in the
Resistance
common
the
servility;
reference
outcomes.
different
assigning
admonition,
common
Also
the
speaker
(regularly
dilemma
with
identical
an
presents
not
concentrations
also
it is the Athenian
of slaves,
though
in excessive
results
brutality
IN ATHENS
SLAVERY
description
The
title,
(91-141).
(96), echoes
exactly
of the
slave
quoted
from
the
(and presumably
as chalepon de to ktema,
'a
slave code was so

says of Plato's Laws on slavery (n. 37), 66, 'No American
on
Plato's
Law of Slavery
Morrow's
G.
M.
of
Plato
remains
standard
slavery
study
IL, 1939),
(Urbana,
Interpretation
of the
supplemented
by his Plato's Cretan City. A Historical
'Does Slavery Exist
Laws
148-52; with G. Vlastos,
1960),
NJ,
(Princeton,
Studies
in Plato's
in G. Vlastos
in Plato's
and
(ed.), Platonic
Thought'
Republic}'
'Slavery
severe'.
Brion
Davis
The
147-63.
140-6,
(Princeton,
NJ,
1973),
41
a blanket
as part of a critique of Plato's Republic
reference
Aristotle
(1264a32-6),
supplies,
than helots
to his georgoi being
'more awkward
and unmanageable
(chalepous kai phronematon)
the likely effect of
and Plato between
and penestae and slaves'. The distinction
drawn by Aristotle
The
to expectations
treatment
and experience.
for helots
and slaves conforms
non-paternal
as if wild
are 'left alone'
slaves are treated brutally,
helots
and respond
resisting;
by violently
see
and modern,
servile. On the incidence
of servile revolt, ancient
and became more
animals,
P. A. Cartledge,
'Rebels
(London,
(eds.), CRUX
and Sambos
16-46.
in Classical
Greece'
in P. A. Cartledge
1985),

and F. D. Harvey
AND
ARISTOTLE
SLAVERY
IN ATHENS
199
in the Politics acknowl

piece of goods'
(776d).42 Nothing
so
the
well
documented
from
the
edges directly
resistance-response
a
the
Old South:
slaves
of
creation
but
Aristotle's
counter-culture;
by
advice on maximizing
the ethnic mix would minimize
initial scope for
troublesome
cultural
There
cohesion.
totle's
is the
trace
of
the
of
a counter-measure
'There
in Aris
is no
time
off
quotation
proverb
(1334a21),
as time free from
to be understood
schole is here
(schole) for slaves';
a
to
to free men.
be
taken
with
activities
up
getting
living
appropriate
Stampp
documents
pleasure
Aside
from
to sheer
how
(346)
idleness.43
the work
regime
on plantations
lent
these hints,
the key manifestation
in
of slave-humanity
out
the Politics,
raised
arises
of
the
directly
by Aristotle,
performance
were
of their duties;
evidences
of humanity
which,
directed,
properly
to the master.
As we have seen, Aristotle
beneficial
acknowl
honestly
and
edges,
then
tries
to
seem
to
slaves
away, how natural
explain
with masters,
and (by extension)
apparently
form friendships
reason,
well
with manumission.
cope
slave-owners
from
differs
for a programme
are 'natural'
basis
his
having
Schofield,
slaves
too
were
to all
familiar
phenomena
their slaves. My
here
analysis
sees Aristotle
as potentially
who
the
providing
can
or
master
the
not
which
whether
by
judge
These
direct
(11).
contact
with
'Is my
slave
really a natural
to see Aristotle
slave? Or
is he
as providing
not
should
I prefer
purposeful?'
a series of 'get-out
clauses'.
So a master
seems
to
if
his
be
slave
worry
reasoning
things out: 'it's only what he's
to
learnt
do by watching
close your slave might
seem,
you'. However
he was not really your friend
somehow
'it's
your equal):
(and therefore
shrewd
masters
and
with
as human'.
only that small bit of him that qualifies
a slave who deserved
is not so explicit,
and could
sion had plainly been well prepared
by his master.
this
Finally,
though
with
manumis
cope
text in this regard

is his
key part of Aristotle's
meant
to
another
demonstrate
his
proverb,
surely
as
conceived.
'Slave
before
goes
slave,
slavery
commonly
before master'
in other words,
there
is a
(1255b30);
A
yet
slaves
as of free men.
slave-overseers,
42
who
The
tell
context
their
other
of
quotation
rapport
master
hierarchy
the wealthy
with
is the ownership
by
to do (1255b31-40).
slaves what
goes
of
of
to Stampp
Samuel Cartwright,
attributed
(n. 3), 105, 122, a Louisiana
doctor,
to sabotage
run away
as diseases
their work
and
labelled
respectively
on resistance:
and 'Drapetomania'.
For the Roman material
'Dysaethesia
Aethiopica'
Hopkins
107-31.
(n. 35); K. Bradley,
Slavery and Society at Rome (Cambridge,
1994),
43
to oppose
in his anxiety
rose-tinted
view of plantation-life
Stampp,
Phillips'
(345-52),
to Phillips,
the bleakness
of the slaves' own world
(Genovese's
emphasizes
xviii); for a
preface
nuanced
view: Genovese
(n. 3), esp. 325-584.
slaves'
According
tendency

200
ARISTOTLE
This
taught
The
diakonemata).
overseer
and
South.
own
by
their
master;
but, as
that this partic
or dignity.
to
He
seeks
reassurance
significance
telling of a man
in Syracuse
for a
who,
services'
'everyday
(egkuklia
extended
Aristotle's
beyond
(paides)
of hierarchy
comes from
Confirmation
the Old
(if needed)
317-21
how the slaves had their
demonstrates
notion
overseen.
(n. 3),
Stampp
internal
class-structure.
by allotting
field-hands
IN ATHENS
as a substitute
provides
great
it (1255b24-6)
domestic
slaves
downgrade
fee,
any
SLAVERY
acting
Aristotle
by Marx,
is not
of
appreciated
ular
skill
a slave
entails
apparently
AND
specialized
of
('helots
masters
The
a sense
of hierarchy
domestics
and
artisans
from
tasks,
isolating
the plough').
But
the slaves themselves
rein
fostered
as individuals;
in the quest
after recognition
tendency
of asserting
their humanity.
Frederick
put
again, a means
Douglass
more
wants
in
the
the privilege
of whip
South,
cynically:
'Everybody,
else'.44
ping somebody
forced
the
it
VI
between
Differentiation
apparent
restricts
problem.
his analysis
and then only
oikos;
to production.
considerable
of slaves
common
to address
helps
criticism
that
a further
Aristotle
of the
1) to slaves as members
as opposed
in action or service
involved
out (n. 4), 343, 370-1,
this apparently
points
in agriculture,
numbers
involved
manufac
in Book
(at least
to those
As Brunt
the
ignores
categories
is the
This
also slaves hired out, those living apart from

and mining;
their
so-called
choris
and
slaves'
(the
oikountes)
'public
employed
by
In reality, discontinuity
between
be
may
community.
categories
turing,
masters
the
read
so
helpful
determined
as
to Aristotle's
plausibility
analysis.
in terms of a spectrum
of slave-types,
to the mnzr-oikos
in relation
of master,
wife,
to
in particular,
wealthier
Brunt
activity
add
to think
the landed oikos familiar to Aristotle
pupils.
considers
(357,
as if the concern
44
and My
My
Bondage
servants
in the Great House
n.
30)
solely
that Aristotle
of the household.
It may
prove
with
location
and
himself
conceives
children;
and his
of economic
In theoretical
terms,
72. Douglass
labels the
York, NY,
1969),
(109)
of
aristocracy',
going on to tell (118) of the disgrace
in the Slave Commu
'a poor man's
slave'. J.W. Blasingame,
'Status and Social Structure
being
and Irony in American
in H. P. Owens
(Jackson, MI,
1976),
(ed.), Perspectives
Slavery
nity'
reconstructs
from
the slaves' own perceived
hierarchy,
encompassing
twenty-three
categories,
to voluntary
via cool cats and self-employed
slaves down
and midwives,
conjurors,
physicians,
concubines
and
Freedom
(New
a 'sort of black
informers.

AND
ARISTOTLE
IN ATHENS
SLAVERY
201
were
in the
slaves
in Athens
household
of slaves
great majority
an
of
oikos.
the
This
that they were
individual
property
formally
a large sub-set
at the heart
of domestic
of the household,
included,
is complicated
Fisher
the category
what
slaves, though
(n. 4), 53
by
the
sense
'all-purpose
be
presumably
harvest-time.
kind
would
of'doubling-up'
at
in the fields,
particularly
slaves
domestic
working
economics
suggest
Elementary
in larger
clearest-cut
be
would
commonest
slaves'. The
calls
that
'division
detailed
households;
of
labour'
testimony
from
the Old South provides an impression of scale. Stampp
(n. 3), 43-4
six or fewer
field-hands,
their slaves.
how, on smaller holdings

and their families would
records
masters
or more
Thirty
labour
slaves
specialization,
regularly
(say)
work
alongside
a plantation
made
possible
on its size'
the amount
depending
on
a clear
minimum
with
distinction
level,
slaves with
was
'considerable
a
At
(49-50).
between
domestic
drawn
On
skills, and field-hands.
special
large planta
was
with
of slave
tions,
types
(65-6),
complete'
'specialization
to
to specific
It
of
the
house.
is
be
doubted
whether
restricted
parts
even the largest Athe
of specialization
occurred
within
such a degree
nian oikos.
servants,
more
No
hints
of Menander's
Knemon
man
than
a farm worth
with
slave
are
from Athenian
forthcoming
as an extreme
is presented
Dyskolos
two
talents, yet working

the sole
slave
Daos,
in the fields
of
sources.
case:
without
a
a
the
(328-33).
single
impoverished
curses
the poverty
of the household,
how
(23-7),
Gorgias
explaining
now hurry off
but must
he has been a long time over the housework,
to help his master
who has been working
alone on the farm (206-11).
ran
three
slaves
who
the
from Nicostratus
contrast,
away
By
(Dem.
53.6),
(ex agrou).
Diogenes
How
squared
detail
Laertius,
Aristotle
are specifically
'farm-slaves'
citizen,
of the Philosophers',
preserved
by
domestic
slaves
in the cases
of Plato
and Theophrastus
(5.11-16),
(5.51-7),
on their
to be working
of the slaves presumed
treated as an integral part.45
they were apparently
(3.41-43),
no mention
which
a better-off
plainly
so-called
'Wills
The
is this differentiation
with
Aristotle's
of slave types within
stipulation
(1254a7)
with action (praxis) but not production

lies in assimilation
economy
of poiesis
to 'production'
that slaves
but make
estates,
of
the oikos to be
are concerned
(poiesis)} Part of the problem

as in textbooks
of political
(explicitly cited by Susemihl and Hicks, n. 11). But it seems
45 In the cases of Aristotle

and Theophrastus,
their lands outside Attica may
have been
is implicit
in the naming
farmed by non-chattel-slave
of Cretan
labour; the possibility
compul
or the plot of land.
to the household
sory labourers oikeis and klarotai: belonging

202
ARISTOTLE
likely from the example

lation
is 'making', with
AND
Aristotle
the
sense
SLAVERY
IN ATHENS
trans
that a better
gives of a shuttle
of making
for further
'action'. An
additional clue is supplied by Aristotle's
aside that 'Life (bios) is not
bios here seems to mean

what
'livelihood':
(1254a7).
poiesis but praxis'
to sustain
that praxis
is needed
life.46 So it can be argued
involves
the
at
oikos
of
within
normal
activities
the
range
aiming
self-sufficiency,
That
in praxis
slaves are engaged
is
including
agriculture.
agricultural
imagined labour force in his ideal polis

explicit in Aristotle's
and
of
(1330a25-30)
implicit in his earlier equation (1252M0-15)
slave (oiketes).
the poor man's
in the Politics
is oiketes used
for slave, suggesting
that
a
be
the
word
used
almost
every
quoting
proverb;
might
is some
of doulos.47
form
The
of the
problem
complex
the plough-ox
here
Only
Aristotle
where
with
For theorists,
of Greek
unresolved.
doulos
terminology
slavery remains
had
the advantage
of abstract
and adjectival
forms. But doulos may
as indicating
sense
also be favoured
'slave' in a neutral,
generalized
to free) without
of function
any of the intimations
(slave as opposed
in oiketes,
inherent
and
is
diakonos,
therapon, akolouthos,
pais, douleia
to indicate
and Aristotle
used metaphorically
by both Plato
subjection
to the discipline
and elders.48
of rulers,
laws, parents,
In practice,
the enlarged Athenian
oikos could display
considerable
in
of the wealthy
listed
the Orators
Estates
include,
flexibility.
along
side
real property,
for the
slave-craftsmen,
obviously
producing
One
market.
from
three
such
female
estate
contained
(Isaeus 8.35)
were
domestic
who
slaves,
slaves,
explicitly
,49Would
distinguished
said to be
be
Aristotle
'income-earning'
(andrapoda
misthophorounta)
to incorporate
this slave-category
into his conception
of the
willing
not. By way of an analogy,
oikos? Probably
he cites the existence
of
or
their
different
kinds of slave, distinguished
by
employments
ergasiai
are handicraftsmen
out for special mention
(1277a35-77b7).
Singled
(chernites),
including
the
'mechanic
artisan'
(banausos
technites).
He
46 For
van het Crediet-Wezen

this sense of bios: J. Korver,
1934;
(Utrecht,
Terminologie
1979), 6-8.
reprinted New York, NY,
47
in the account
of the Syracusan
slaves their domestic
The
teaching
solitary use of paides
his source. Another
is
duties
may be closely paraphrasing
apparent
suggests Aristotle
anomaly
state the land could be farmed by 'barbarian periokoi^ as an
Aristotle's
advice that in his model
to slaves
alternative
the
(The Greeks,
(1329a24-6,
1330a25-31).
Cartledge
127-8)
explains
as indicating
round
their
and social
about')
political
labelling
('dwellers
'literally marginal
status'.
48 For
doulos having
the strict sense of 'unfree' rather than slave, see the fundamental
study
zur griechischen
der Sklaverei
Studien
i.6-12;
1976),
(Wiesbaden,
Terminologie
by F. Gschnitzer,
to slaves in daily life (16-23).
Plato
oiketes as broadly
he further
(Laws 763a)
relating
interprets
treats oiketai as one type of douloi.
49 For breakdowns
see Millett
of selected
estates,
(n. 14), 166-9.

ARISTOTLE
AND
IN ATHENS
SLAVERY
203
are not appropriate

or
to citizens
these handicrafts
that, although
men
as
be
learned
for
occasional,
good
they may
occupations,
private
use. Presumably,
their possession
the oikos, aiming
by slaves within
at self-sufficiency,
was
even
to locate
less problematic.
Helping
adds
market-orientated
famous
passage
only
things would work by themselves
whereby
shuttles
the
indicating
to the mnzr-oikos
is the
respect
as magic,
to slavery
alternative
with
craft-workers
wove
and
('works-directors')
no need
masters
quills
would
played
harps
have no need
'Thus if
(1253b23-54a8).
of
architektones
themselves,
of huperetai
and
(assistants)
the status of these huperetai
is
of slaves'. Although
with
free craft-workers
for the
stated,
workshops
producing
comment
market
would
be unprecedented.
is
well
known
Xenophon's
can afford
as co-workers.
those who
it have
slaves
(Mem.
2.3.3):
not
Aristotle's
reference
of a slave-
the control
couch-
and
to slave-manned
is presumably
under
workshops
or freedman-foreman;
as was the case with
the
knife-makers
27.19-22).
Aristotle's
owned
distinction
by Demosthenes'
between
despotes-douloi
his conception
distances
the latter from
huperetai
been
the
inner-oikos.
Even
calling
were
hired-out
slaves
and
despotes
case were
extreme
erty of Nicias,
a non-Athenian,
the one
but
kept
hands-off
owners).
labelled
significantly
slaves met with
disassociated
in his
of
Phaleas
length
architekton
of what
from
we
their
have
formal
in the mines.
allegedly
contracted
An
the prop
out under
by being
for
2.5.2; Poroi 4.15-16
(Xen. Mem.
were
from the master
Similarly
disengaged
choris oikountes. Whether
these
of
groups
the
one
employed
mine-slaves
and
(Dem.
a slave
possibly
is a hint
remote
those
thousand
at arm's
other
There
more
father
Aristotle's
summary
of
Chalcedon
is to be doubted.
approval
the legislation
proposed
by
his
unknown),
criticizing
(otherwise
should be publicly
slaves
owned
(technitai)
to
'If
it
is
have
it
those
is
proper
slaves,
(1267M4-19):
public
on
ta
as
case
at
works
koina
is
the
(tous
labouring
public
ergazomenous)
as
once
at Athens.'
and
tried to institute
His
Epidamnus
Diophantus
that all artisans
suggestion
concession
concerning
manual
labourers
would
exclude
the more
'privileged' public slaves (clerks and the like) who might merge with
the free.50
These
relations,
50 The
Nation
of
patterns
delimiting
evidence
(Princeton,
for
NJ,
slaveholding
the perceived
slaves'
'privileged
130-54.
2000),
have
for master-slave
implications
of
Aristotle's
problems
analysis.
in Athens
is collected
by E. Cohen,

The Athenian
204
ARISTOTLE
The
of slaves
number
AND
SLAVERY
contact
into direct
coming
IN ATHENS
with
the master
with
some
whom
kind of personal
bond might
be established
(problematic
was restricted;
their naturalness)
the point of view of preserving
for the remainder,
there was
less of a problem
of 'how contact with
was
as
to
of the helots. Even
them
be managed',
Aristotle
complained
from
the
within
through
inner-oikos,
the overseers
suggests
(via
be
should
also
looked
advises
generation
slaves.51
In
that
with
after by
the master
be maintained
might
by Aristotle.
further
Xenophon
a female-housekeeper
(tamia) might
the household
and that sick
slaves,
the wife
1.31,
(Oeconomicus
9). Aris
in
that free children
the household,
as possible
should have as little contact
(1336a39-36b3)
of owners,
the next
with
from
recommended
Ischomachus)
relations
everyday
manage
slaves
totle
distance
this
the
be
'awkward
corners'
of natural
way,
slavery may
of slaves within
off. With
the oikos, care and
rounded
only a minority
were
lest
and
needed,
power
relations,
guidance
reasoning
friendly
in due measure,
the master-slave
distort
advantageous
relationship,
was
into resistance.
who
Komon,
hardening
a
to
in
he
be
slave
had
years,
thought
getting
especially
trustworthy
to be thoroughly
out
but
this Moschion
turned
(piston),
allegedly
unreliable
and exploitative
The
of the
opponents
(Dem.
48.14-15).
son of Teisias
as
used
his
with
his
slave
Callarus
allegedly
relationship
with
accommodation
on
a means
of
Callarus
(Dem.
otherwise
Aristotle's
be
might
the master,
Moschion
50.31-2).
attacking
puzzling
with
slaves
possible
bringing
and
statement
a charge
(dike) against
Callarus
match
up with
that a limited
friendship
in
partaking
'law
and
agreement'
(187).52
ties in with
the issue of manumission.
distancing
to
with
made
reference
his ideal state, remains
proposal,
that freedom
all slaves as a reward.
should be set before
This
of a Machiavellian
the possibility
perception
again
possible
considered
51
problematic:
aside
Setting
of the false
taking advantage
ploy,
off free, it is
be better
they would
a comparative
to delimit
From
the problem.
perspec
a powerful
remains
that freedom
(n. 3), 220 argues
are actually
to be freed. Also
to be
if only a handful
of natural
tive, Patterson
even
incentive
Aristotle's
is the
slaves
practical
that
position
of
the
freed
slave.
his wife
enthusiasm
for her role as
expresses
expectations,
of contact
charis and be eunousteroi. For implications
between
'The Effects
of Slavery on Citizen Households
and Children:
455-75.
15 (1988),
Historical
and Athens',
Reflections
Aristophanes
accommodation
and resistance
is a theme
between
through
interplay
running
study (esp. 658-60).
to Ischomachus'
Contrary
sick slaves will
show her
children
and slaves: M. Golden,
nurse:
Aeschylus,
52 The
Genovese's
Patterson

ARISTOTLE
AND
205
IN ATHENS
SLAVERY
(240-7) comments on the difficulty experienced by freed negro slaves

in Athens,
in addi
of dependence.
Freedmen
on
in
metics
continue
imposed
general, might
to former masters,
re-enslavement
with
obligations
the bonds
in breaking
tion to the constraints
to owe
significant
as the punishment
a version
of the
home
master's
were
to be
Which
for default.
times
three
in his Laws
Plato
owed
services
'just and practicable'.53

of slaves were
categories
inscriptions
represented
But
the
from
their masters.54
most
are
likely
which
to be manumitted?
to be
slaves
other
may preserve
at their former
calling
to receive
instructions
by
per month
from
(915a)
freedmen:
presumed
substantial
group,
slaves. Apart
from
Well
apart
from
living
known
was
cases
isolated
household
sources,
a range of texts (the loyal freedwoman
in Demosthenes'
Against
and other philos
[47]) this returns us to the wills of Aristotle
Euergos
different
from
ophers
detailed
preserved
by Diogenes
Plato
and
specific.
are
instructions
(201). The
slave and bequeathed
four
ten house
instructions
concerning
Laertius
freed
named
one
gave
oiketai; Theophrastus
three to be freed
slaves:
immediately,
four given away, and one sold on.
two
hold
The
most
bequeathed
his daughter
her
three
therapainai,
a named pais
and
freedom,
500
marriage,
together
drachmas
was
(a freedwoman?)
to one
in addition
given,
in addition
are from
instructions
detailed
with,
'and
a paidiske
to son. A
on
the
conditionally
Aristotle's
had.
pais or another
named
slaves and
To Thale
has'.
and
Simon
already
to a sum already his
sum of money.
Aristotle
Aristotle
a pais
to
(all unnamed)
was given
slave called Abracis
of his daughter's
occasion
and
the paidiske
she already
to be given a thousand
drachmas
she
will.
freed,
a paidiske
was
to be
(a freedman?)
a pais, a
towards
purchasing
that three further
instructs
one of their children

shall be given
their freedom
He
his daughter
that none of
is married.
additionally
stipulates
shall be sold, but
the paides who waited
upon him (erne therapeuonton)
in service until they arrive at the appropriate
will continue
age, when
when
they
53
are
to be freed,
according
to their
deserts
(kaf
axian).
All
this
of freedom
in
the formal fragility
emphasizes
enjoyed by metics
of
owed by freed
slaves to former masters
(and the possibility
s.v. apostasiou: Wiedemann
(n. 4), 49. Brion Davis
(n. 37),
in stating
in Athens
of
that an ex-slave
bore no stigma;
the behaviour
incorrect
son of the ex-slave Pasi?n
the contrary:
the Son of
suggests
J. Trevett,
Apollodorus
Schlaifer
(n. 20), 178-80
for hints of obligations
see Harpocration,
re-enslavement)
Athens;
55 is surely
Apollodorus,
Pasi?n
1992).
(Oxford,
54 The evidence
to Osborne
is conveniently
summarized
(n. 4), 69-70. According
by Fisher
as general domestic
in the lists are best understood
the fifty female wool-spinners
(n. 4), 31-2,
slaves.

206
seem
to
household,
archy: freed
from
might
other
and
those
slaves;
Testimentary
slaves
our
confirm
freed,
evidence
IN ATHENS
findings.
there was
perspective
and unnamed;
named
slaves
slave;
SLAVERY
preliminary
the master's
Even
within
the
an apparent
hier
slaves possessing
on, or sold.
freed, passed
the Politics
and Book
1 of
conditionally
blends
with
Oeconomica
pseudo-Aristotelian
of slavery. The
echoes
AND
ARISTOTLE
the
a broadly
view'
'Peripatetic
of Aristotle,
follower
anonymous
to create
an early but
author,
to offer all
in advising
that it is 'just and expedient'
the Politics
a
of freedom
after
number
of years
the possibility
specified
(1344b 15). He also advocates

slaves whose
is closer
position
should be treated with
respect.
the principle
of divide
and rule. Those
to that of free men
(that is, overseers)
The
author
advises
that slaves are not
to be subjected
to hubris or cruelty;
and food
(but not wine)
clothing
are to be given as 'pay' in return for work,
and punishment
should be
are
to be
and
families
balanced
sacrifices,
by rewards,
holidays;
so that children may
serve as 'hostages'
as
and eventually
permitted
It is clear from
for freed parents.
the detail
replacements
are
context
the
the
within
of
slaves
household.55
envisaged
an ancient
Book
but
unsubstantiated
tradition,
By
Oeconomica
was
to Theophrastus,
Aristotle's
are several cross-bearings:
attributed
of the Lyceum.
There
Ethics
the Nicomachean
(1145al0-ll)
to
wisdom
theoretical
relating practical
head
in a way
related
in order
similar
to
that
in which
the way
to their masters.
their masters
For
do
they
have
may
slaves
everything
leisure
for
reports
that
the
1 of
the
successor
as
a scholion
on
Theophrastus
as
wisdom,
acting
which
as
stewards
must
the pursuits
be
of
done
masters
their
are
within
appropriate
the house,
to free men.
of slavery
in the Politics
is paral
restricted
presentation
in
As
the
of
slaves
Characters.5^
Theophrastus'
by
deployment
an
or
are
so
to slaves
references
essential
the sixty
suggest,
they
elite
in the Characters'
households:
element
fetching,
carrying,
Aristotle's
leled
is a further
There
marketing.
attending,
that all the slaves in the Characters
slaves
in
the Politics
with
parallel
are 'close' to their masters;
55 Brunt
recreation
of the 'Peripatetic
view' of slavery. The
offers a composite
(n. 4), 371-2
in the Old South, with domestic
slaves
of divide and rule is evident from plantations
or 'drivers' actively disliked
[n. 44],
(Blasingame
by other slaves and slave-overseers
on 'The men between').
From
the vantage
139-40; Genovese
point of freedom,
[n. 3], 365-88
principle
distrusted
himself
of holidays
for
Frederick
thoroughly
unimpressed
by the tokenism
Douglass
professed
and inhumanity
of slavery' (n. 44), 251-4.
slaves: 'part and parcel of the gross frauds, wrongs
56 It
one fantasy world with another,
but in
be objected
that this approach
compares
might
a Peripatetic
I try to argue that the Characters
and His World
presents
(forthcoming)
Theophrastus
in a democratic
of how elite citizens ought to behave
version
polis.

ARISTOTLE
207
IN ATHENS
SLAVERY
AND
of slaves in agriculture
slaves, with no mention
they are all domestic
or manufacturing.
Characters
their
demonstrate
Individual
routinely
their slaves. The
with
sides through
agroikos or
relationships
negative
to maintain
of the need
social
(4) is ignorant
Bumpkin'
shown as answering
the front
is therefore
from his slaves. He
the slave-girl who bakes the bread,
then
himself,
trying to seduce
'Country
distance
door
her
helping
slaves
about
to grind
the grain he needs,
business.
As
his
personal
confronts
Theophrastus
constantly
non-natural
behaviour
of manifestly
his
finally
consulting
befits
Aristotle's
pupil,
reader with
of the
examples
the
and
masters.
VII
Aristotle's
reinforces
analysis
in Athens,
slavery
from the Roman
trum were
one
only
between
We
should
of
the
and mine-slaves
oz&?s-orientated
(and
the
crude
of
ascription
spec
the very differently
is concerned
with
'better
as distance
close
relationships
and worse
from
treat
the despotes
but hardly
spectrum,
deteriorating
slaves and mine-slaves,
for hired-out
of
By the same token, the experience
living independently.58
than
views
their
of
slaves was far more
complex
optimistic
appropriate
into
integration
the psychological
complex:
57
extremes
the
along
domestic
avoid
of
system
material
the better-documented
in his analysis
Aristotle
oikountes).
extreme:
of potentially
the implications
masters
and certain household
slaves.
increased;
for slaves
was
slaves
with
choris
situated
ment'
overlapping
At
world.57
domestic
of a differentiated
the notion
the family
suggest. As
of masters
interaction
both
sides
had
explained
by Fisher
and slaves in close
self-interest
in feigning
(n. 4),
73,
proximity
respectively
is conveniently
summarized
material
(n. 5), 94 notes
(n. 42); Garnsey
by Bradley
to take into account
in their judgments
the qualitas
judges were evidently
expected
of individual
slaves.
58 The
its zenith
in A. Zimmern's
of treatment'
reaches
'Was Greek
'spectrum
approach
on Slave Labour?'
in his Solon and Croesus and Other Greek Essays
Civilization
Based
(Oxford,
are divided between
the majority
slaves in Athens
105-64, where
1928),
'serving apprenticeships
Roman
how Roman
true chattel-slaves,
destined
for mines
and quarries
(122, 143-4).
(120) and others,
account
of J. E. Cairns'
of
but misguidedly
the findings
applies
polemical
ingeniously
to
2nd edn. (London,
negro
1863; reprinted New York, NY,
1968),
slavery, The Slave Power,
as a slave society
cannot
count
In fact, Cairns
demonstrate
that Athens
(109-19,
161-2).
and medieval
distanced
identifying
emphatically
slavery in the Old South from ancient
slavery,
the slave trade) that 'take the
three 'deep-reaching
divisions'
(race and colour, monoculture,
case of modern
furnished
by the former experi
slavery entirely out of the scope of the analogies
ence of mankind'
(109-27).
for freedom'
Zimmern

208
ARISTOTLE
AND
SLAVERY
IN ATHENS
kindliness
and loyalty. Apparent

in the form of family
amelioration
and friendship-relations
for punish
effectively
heightened
possibilities
ment
and potential
in Plato's
Callicles
suffering.
(483b)
Gorgias
or humiliated,
considers
that a slave, who,
cannot
'when wronged
come
to his own defence
or to the defence
of anyone
for whom
he
be better
off dead. The
of the domestic,
cares', would
precariousness
is nicely
Eratosthenes:
of
slave
personal
Murder
the
illustrated
in Lysias
by the slave-girl
(1), On the
at one moment,
the confidante
of her mistress,
threatened
with
and
by her master
being
'whipped
next
being
into the mill,
been determined
thrown
have
attempts
to slavery.
integral
of the slave, ranging
to the intellectual
as
masters
prerogative
by Aristotle
regarded
This
and having
by
their masters
a life of perpetual
There
misery'.59
on
the
part of
identify humanity
But humanity
within
is the
slavery
to
from
at
the resistance
hinted
merely
emotional
engagement
of the free.60
and
activity
as the preserve
in the Old
slavery
the
South,
study began with
asking how
consciousness
of pro-slavers
could be so strong as to mask
the
we
obvious
cannot
of natural
wrongness
(to us)
slavery. Although
share in their mentality,
an
the ethical writing
of Peter Singer provides
false
unsettling
(New
people
analogy
York,
might
professedly
ment
of
in terms
NY,
1975),
look back
humane
animals.
of
self-delusion.
In his Animal
Liberation
to come,
suggests
that, in centuries
Singer
at the double
in amazement
standards
that a
feels comfortable
society
to be taken
The
lesson
in applying
away from
to the treat
Aristotle
on
59
On
the ideology
of physical
for Athenian
slaves: V. Hunter,
punishment
Policing Athens.
Social Control
B.C. (Princeton,
in the Attic Lawsuits,
420-320
154-86. As an antidote
1994),
NJ,
to optimistic
assessments
of Roman
invokes
the execution
of
household,
(n. 5), 7-8
Garnsey
several hundred
to the murder
domestic
slaves and freedmen
in response
of their master
'To Make
Them
in Fear'
Stand
(Tacitus, Annals
14.42-5).
Stampp's
chapter
(n. 3), 142-88.
or its threat as the essential
treatment
underlines
harsh
to negro
in
accompaniment
slavery;
'Between
Two
Cultures'
he explores
to
the limits of paternalism
with
reference
(307-15),
of
slaves; a theme subsequently
developed
by Genovese
(n. 3), esp. 3-7. For distrust
see n. 55.
domestic
slaves by fellow-slaves,
to identify
There
have been
ancient
domestic
attempts
sporadic
slavery with
unregulated
domestic
service before
War
(say) the First World
(Brunt
359). The
[n.3], 348,
tendency
receives
the routine
terms as
translation
of paidiske
and associated
support
ongoing
through
to ameliorate
'maidservant'.
Without
the severe conditions
of pre-War
domestic
service
wishing
were
to as
around
the end of the nineteenth
referred
(not for nothing
servant-girls
century
a crucial difference,
at least as perceived
there remains
and mistresses.
'slaveys'),
by masters
domestic
to A. E. Housman,
as recorded
on Trinity High Table
in the 1930s, true civilization
According
was not possible
servants were no substitute,
without
'because you wouldn't
slaves, for which
their souls': T. Howarth,
possess
Cambridge Between Two Wars
1978), 80.
(Cambridge,
60
of 'Slavery and Humanity'
classic defence
in his Ancient
and the Ideal of
J. Vogt's
Slavery
trans. T. Wiedemann
is sharply
Man,
(Oxford,
1974), as routinely
implemented
by slaveowners,
criticized
I. Finley, Ancient Slavery and Modern
by M.
1980), 93-122.
Ideology (London,

ARISTOTLE
is not
slavery
to understand
that
it is a warning
rather,
the assumptions
AND
that we
SLAVERY
IN ATHENS
everything
should never
our
underpinning
own
is to excuse
everything;
to question
closely
and
behaviour
everyday
cease
beliefs.61
I owe
the reference
to Singer
to my
pupil,
Tom
209
Barker.


Aristotle and Slavery in Athens

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Aristotle and Slavery in Athens

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Aristotle and Slavery in Athens

Author(s): Paul Millett

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Greece & Rome,

Vol. 54, No.

Tribune for 20 December

to labour gave him

over the past fifteen years,

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of the Politics, proved

to claim this as a key to unlock

on slavery is by Bernard Williams

in his Shame and

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of the Politics (1253M); but chs. 1 and 2 show Aristotle

that the polis is a type of koinonia

(as occurs with other animals

Greek and Roman Slavery

The Greeks. A Portrait

in the text are politikos,

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uses but one

why the poets (specifically Euripides,

are despotes and doulos?

1400) say: 'It

to his own analysis,

development may be considered more briefly (1252bl5-53a40).

or village. The final stage

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teleios), he says, consists

slave; the implication

parts of the political

a key role, mediating

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is to be a tool and possession

from the discussion.

just for them

the identity of those debating:

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cult to discern both theoretically

(toi logoi) and empirically

In fact, in the arguments

and subject. The

this kind of authority

states two criteria

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for the necessities

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that it is a terrible thing if those superior in power have the

the right of conquerors

The reciprocity at the heart of Greek ideas of friendship ('for utility'

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important or dignified branch of knowledge.

slave are discussed

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(n. 4), 366-9.

in the final book

sees the tone of time as sarcastic. The

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is especially scathing of the possibility of friendship with a

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not even from

is not to any significant

belief as 'one which