In describing the earlier social condition of Italy, when the
ordinary occupations of rural life were considered compatible with
the highest civic dignity, Pliny speaks of the triumphant generals
and their men, returning contentedly to the plough. In those days
the lands were tilled by the hands even of generals, the soil
exulting beneath a ploughshare crowned with laurels, and guided by
a husbandman graced with triumphs: "IPSORUM TUNC MANIBUS
IMPERATORUM COLEBANTUR AGRI: UT FAS EST CREDERE, GAUDENTE TERRA
VOMERE LAUREATO ET TRIUMPHALI ARATORE." (1) It was only after
slaves became extensively employed in all departments of industry
that labour came to be regarded as dishonourable and servile. And
so soon as indolence and luxury became the characteristics of the
ruling classes of Rome, the downfall of the empire, sooner or
later, was inevitable.
There is, perhaps, no tendency of our nature that has to be more
carefully guarded against than indolence. When Mr. Gurney asked
an intelligent foreigner who had travelled over the greater part
of the world, whether he had observed any one quality which, more
than another, could be regarded as a universal characteristic of
our species, his answer was, in broken English, "Me tink dat all
men LOVE LAZY." It is characteristic of the savage as of the
despot. It is natural to men to endeavour to enjoy the products
of labour without its toils.
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