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of the food for himself alone in a
quarter of the time and employ the other three-quarters, the one in the
provision of a house, the other of a garment, the other of shoes, and not
have the bother of associating with other people, but, himself for himself,
mind his own affairs?”
1 And Adeimantus
said, “But, perhaps, Socrates, the former way is
easier.” “It would not, by Zeus, be at all
strange,” said I; “for now that you have mentioned it,
it occurs to me myself that, to begin with, our several natures are not
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all alike but different. One man is
naturally fitted for one task, and another for another. Don't you think
so?” “I do.” “Again, would one man
do better working at many tasks or one at one?” “One at
one,” he said. “And, furthermore, this, I fancy, is
obvious—that if one lets slip the right season, the favorable
moment in any task, the work is spoiled.”
“Obvious.” “That, I take it, is because the
business will not wait upon the leisure of the workman, but the workman must
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attend to it as his main affair, and
not as a by-work.” “He must indeed.”
“The result, then, is that more things are produced, and better
and more easily when one man performs one task according to his nature, at
the right moment, and at leisure from other occupations.”
“By all means.” “Then, Adeimantus, we need
more than four citizens for the provision of the things we have mentioned.
For the farmer, it appears, will not make his own plough if it is to be a
good one,
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nor his hoe, nor his other
agricultural implements, nor will the builder, who also needs many; and
similarly the weaver and cobbler.” “True.”
“Carpenters, then, and smiths and many similar craftsmen,
associating themselves with our hamlet, will enlarge it
considerably.” “Certainly.” “Yet it
still wouldn't be very large even if we should add to them neat-herds and
shepherds and other herders,
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so that the
farmers might have cattle for ploughing,
2 and the builders oxen
to use with the farmers for transportation, and the weavers and cobblers
hides and fleeces for their use.” “It wouldn't be a
small city, either, if it had all these.” “But
further,” said I, “it is practically impossible to
establish the city in a region where it will not need imports.”
“It is.” “There will be a further need, then,
of those who will bring in from some other city what it requires.”
“There will.” “And again, if our servitor goes
forth empty-handed, not taking with him any of the things needed by those