Soc. A good suggestion, Critobulus, for the base mechanic arts, so
called, have got a bad name; and what is more, are held in ill repute
by civilised communities, and not unreasonably; seeing they are the
ruin of the bodies of all concerned in them, workers and overseers
alike, who are forced to remain in sitting postures and to hug the
loom, or else to crouch whole days confronting a furnace. Hand in
hand with physical enervation follows apace enfeeblement of soul:
while the demand which these base mechanic arts makes on the time of
those employed in them leaves them no leisure to devote to the claims
of friendship and the state. How can such folk be other than sorry
friends and ill defenders of the fatherland? So much so that in some
states, especially those reputed to be warlike, no citizen[1] is
allowed to exercise any mechanical craft at all.

[1] "In the strict sense," e.g. the Spartiates in Sparta. See "Pol.
Lac." vii.; Newman, op. cit. i. 99, 103 foll.

Crit. Then which are the arts you would counsel us to engage in?

Soc. Well, we shall not be ashamed, I hope, to imitate the kings of
Persia?[2] That monarch, it is said, regards amongst the noblest and
most necessary pursuits two in particular, which are the arts of
husbandry and war, and in these two he takes the strongest interest.

[2] "It won't make us blush actually to take a leaf out of the great
king's book." As to the Greek text at this point see the
commentators, and also a note by Mr. H. Richers in the "Classical
Review," x. 102.