BUT how, you will ask, did the ancient Greeks have time to look after
their families and their business if they were forever running to the
market-place to discuss affairs of state? In this chapter I shall tell
you.
In all matters of government, the Greek democracy recognised only one
class of citizens--the freemen. Every Greek city was composed of a small
number of free born citizens, a large number of slaves and a sprinkling
of foreigners.
At rare intervals (usually during a war, when men were needed for the
army) the Greeks showed themselves willing to confer the rights of
citizenship upon the "barbarians" as they called the foreigners. But
this was an exception. Citizenship was a matter of birth. You were an
Athenian because your father and your grandfather had been Athenians
before you. But however great your merits as a trader or a soldier, if
you were born of non-Athenian parents, you remained a "foreigner" until
the end of time.
The Greek city, therefore, whenever it was not ruled by a king or a
tyrant, was run by and for the freemen, and this would not have been
possible without a large army of slaves who outnumbered the free
citizens at the rate of six or five to one and who performed those tasks
to which we modern people must devote most of our time and energy if we
wish to provide for our families and pay the rent of our apartments.
The slaves did all the cooking and baking and candlestick making of the
entire city. They were the tailors and the carpenters and the jewelers
and the school-teachers and the bookkeepers and they tended the store
and looked after the factory while the master went to the public meeting
to discuss questions of war and peace or visited the theatre to see the
latest play of AEschylus or hear a discussion of the revolutionary
ideas of Euripides, who had dared to express certain doubts upon the
omnipotence of the great god Zeus.
Indeed, ancient Athens resembled a modern club. All the freeborn citizens
were hereditary members and all the slaves were hereditary servants, and
waited upon the needs of their masters, and it was very pleasant to be a
member of the organisation.
But when we talk about slaves, we do not mean the sort of people about
whom you have read in the pages of "Uncle Tom's Cabin." It is true that
the position of those slaves who tilled the fields was a very unpleasant
one, but the average freeman who had come down in the world and who had
been obliged to hire himself out as a farm hand led just as miserable
a life. In the cities, furthermore, many of the slaves were more
prosperous than the poorer classes of the freemen. For the Greeks, who
loved moderation in all things, did not like to treat their slaves after
the fashion which afterward was so common in Rome, where a slave had as
few rights as an engine in a modern factory and could be thrown to the
wild animals upon the smallest pretext.
The Greeks accepted slavery as a necessary institution, without which no
city could possibly become the home of a truly civilised people.
The slaves also took care of those tasks which nowadays are performed by
the business men and the professional men. As for those household duties
which take up so much of the time of your mother and which worry your
father when he comes home from his office, the Greeks, who understood
the value of leisure, had reduced such duties to the smallest possible
minimum by living amidst surroundings of extreme simplicity.
To begin with, their homes were very plain. Even the rich nobles spent
their lives in a sort of adobe barn, which lacked all the comforts which
a modern workman expects as his natural right. A Greek home consisted
of four walls and a roof. There was a door which led into the street but
there were no windows. The kitchen, the living rooms and the sleeping
quarters were built around an open courtyard in which there was a small
fountain, or a statue and a few plants to make it look bright. Within
this courtyard the family lived when it did not rain or when it was not
too cold. In one corner of the yard the cook (who was a slave) prepared
the meal and in another corner, the teacher (who was also a
slave) taught the children the alpha beta gamma and the tables of
multiplication and in still another corner the lady of the house, who
rarely left her domain (since it was not considered good form for a
married woman to be seen on the street too often) was repairing her
husband's coat with her seamstresses (who were slaves,) and in the
little office, right off the door, the master was inspecting the
accounts which the overseer of his farm (who was a slave) had just
brought to him.
When dinner was ready the family came together but the meal was a very
simple one and did not take much time. The Greeks seem to have regarded
eating as an unavoidable evil and not a pastime, which kills many dreary
hours and eventually kills many dreary people. They lived on bread and
on wine, with a little meat and some green vegetables. They drank water
only when nothing else was available because they did not think it very
healthy. They loved to call on each other for dinner, but our idea of a
festive meal, where everybody is supposed to eat much more than is good
for him, would have disgusted them. They came together at the table for
the purpose of a good talk and a good glass of wine and water, but as
they were moderate people they despised those who drank too much.
The same simplicity which prevailed in the dining room also dominated
their choice of clothes. They liked to be clean and well groomed, to
have their hair and beards neatly cut, to feel their bodies strong with
the exercise and the swimming of the gymnasium, but they never followed
the Asiatic fashion which prescribed loud colours and strange patterns.
They wore a long white coat and they managed to look as smart as a
modern Italian officer in his long blue cape.
They loved to see their wives wear ornaments but they thought it very
vulgar to display their wealth (or their wives) in public and whenever
the women left their home they were as inconspicuous as possible.
In short, the story of Greek life is a story not only of moderation but
also of simplicity. "Things," chairs and tables and books and houses and
carriages, are apt to take up a great deal of their owner's time. In the
end they invariably make him their slave and his hours are spent looking
after their wants, keeping them polished and brushed and painted. The
Greeks, before everything else, wanted to be "free," both in mind and
in body. That they might maintain their liberty, and be truly free in
spirit, they reduced their daily needs to the lowest possible point.