---
title: "Oeconomicus · Οἰκονομικός"
author: "Xenophon"
translator: "Edgar Carew Marchant"
languages: [grc, en]
shelf: "Classical Greek"
section: 18 of 21
url: https://scriptura.si/works/xenophon-economics/18/
cite: "Xenophon, tr. Edgar Carew Marchant, Oeconomicus · Οἰκονομικός, section 18. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/xenophon-economics/18/"
---

# Oeconomicus · Οἰκονομικός

*Xenophon, tr. Edgar Carew Marchant*

Socrates on running a household and a farm, through the gentleman Ischomachus and his young wife.

> Greek: ed. Edgar Carew Marchant, from the Perseus Digital Library (canonical-greekLit, tlg0032.tlg003, CC BY-SA 4.0).

> English: Edgar Carew Marchant, from the Perseus Digital Library (tlg0032.tlg003.perseus-eng2). Notes are not included.

> Rows follow the references the two texts share (books, chapters and sections), cut where both reach the end of a sentence.

## 18. Chapter 18

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/xenophon-economics/18/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/xenophon-economics/18/#p-N

[¶0] 1. However, I continued, after this comes reaping, I fancy. So give me any information you can with regard to that too. Yes—unless I find that you know just what I do about that subject too. You know, then, that the corn must be cut. I know that, naturally. Are you for standing with your back to the wind when you cut corn, or facing it? Not facing it, no! I think it is irritating both to the eyes and to the hands to reap with cornstalks and spikes blowing in your face.

> Greek: 1. ἀτὰρ οὖν, ἔφην ἐγώ, ἐκ τούτου ἄρα θερίζειν εἰκός. δίδασκε οὖν εἴ τι ἔχεις με καὶ εἰς τοῦτο. ἂν μή γε φανῇς, ἔφη, καὶ εἰς τοῦτο ταὐτὰ ἐμοὶ ἐπιστάμενος. ὅτι μὲν οὖν τέμνειν τὸν σῖτον δεῖ οἶσθα. τί δʼ οὐ μέλλω; ἔφην ἐγώ. πότερʼ ⟨ἂν⟩ οὖν τέμνοις, ἔφη, στὰς ἔνθα πνεῖ ἄνεμος ἢ ἀντίος; οὐκ ἀντίος, ἔφην, ἔγωγε· χαλεπὸν γὰρ οἶμαι καὶ τοῖς ὄμμασι καὶ ταῖς χερσὶ γίγνεται ἀντίον ἀχύρων καὶ ἀθέρων θερίζειν.

[¶1] 2. And would you cut near the top or close to the ground? If the stalk is short, I should cut low down, so that the straw may be more useful; but if it is long, I think it would be right to cut in the middle, in order that the threshers and winnowers may not spend needless trouble on what they don’t want. I imagine that the stubble may be burnt with advantage to the land, or thrown on the manure heap to increase its bulk.

> Greek: 2. καὶ ἀκροτομοίης δʼ ἄν, ἔφη, ἢ παρὰ γῆν τέμνοις; ἂν μὲν βραχὺς ᾖ ὁ κάλαμος τοῦ σίτου, ἔγωγʼ, ἔφην, κάτωθεν ἂν τέμνοιμι, ἵνα ἱκανὰ τὰ ἄχυρα μᾶλλον γίγνηται· ἐὰν δὲ ὑψηλὸς ᾖ, νομίζω ὀρθῶς ἂν ποιεῖν μεσοτομῶν, ἵνα μήτε οἱ ἁλοῶντες μοχθῶσι περιττὸν πόνον μήτε οἱ λικμῶντες ὧν οὐδὲν προσδέονται. τὸ δὲ ἐν τῇ γῇ λειφθὲν ἡγοῦμαι καὶ κατακαυθὲν συνωφελεῖν ἂν τὴν γῆν καὶ εἰς κόπρον ἐμβληθὲν τὴν κόπρον συμπληθύνειν.

[¶2] 3. Do you notice, Socrates, that you stand convicted of knowing just what I know about reaping too? Yes, it seems so; and I want to know besides whether I understand threshing as well. Then you know this much, that draught animals are used in threshing?

> Greek: 3. ὁρᾷς, ἔφη, ὦ Σώκρατες, ὡς ἁλίσκει ἐπʼ αὐτοφώρῳ καὶ περὶ θερισμοῦ εἰδὼς ἅπερ ἐγώ; κινδυνεύω, ἔφην ἐγώ, καὶ βούλομαί γε σκέψασθαι εἰ καὶ ἁλοᾶν ἐπίσταμαι. οὐκοῦν, ἔφη, τοῦτο μὲν οἶσθα, ὅτι ὑποζυγίῳ ἁλοῶσι τὸν σῖτον.

[¶3] 4. Yes, of course I do; and that the term draught animals includes oxen, mules and horses. Then do you not think that all the beasts know is how to trample on the corn as they are driven? Why, what more should draught animals know?

> Greek: 4. τί δʼ οὐκ, ἔφην ἐγώ, οἶδα; καὶ ὑποζύγιά γε καλούμενα πάντα ὁμοίως, βοῦς, ἡμιόνους, ἵππους. οὐκοῦν, ἔφη, ταῦτα μὲν ἡγῇ τοσοῦτον μόνον εἰδέναι, πατεῖν τὸν σῖτον ἐλαυνόμενα; τί γὰρ ἂν ἄλλο, ἔφην ἐγώ, ὑποζύγια εἰδείη;

[¶4] 5. And who sees that they tread out the right corn, and that the threshing is level, Socrates? The threshers, clearly. By continually turning the untrodden corn and throwing it under the animal’s feet they will, of course, keep it level on the floor and take least time over the work. So far, then, your knowledge is quite as good as mine.

> Greek: 5. ὅπως δὲ τὸ δεόμενον κόψουσι καὶ ὁμαλιεῖται ὁ ἁλοατός, τίνι τοῦτο.., ὦ Σώκρατες; ἔφη. Δῆλον ὅτι, ἔφην ἐγώ, τοῖς ἐπαλωσταῖς. στρέφοντες γὰρ καὶ ὑπὸ τοὺς πόδας ὑποβάλλοντες τὰ ἄτριπτα ἀεὶ δῆλον ὅτι μάλιστα ὁμαλίζοιεν ἂν τὸν δῖνον καὶ τάχιστα ἁνύτοιεν. ταῦτα μὲν τοίνυν, ἔφη, οὐδὲν ἐμοῦ λείπει γιγνώσκων.

[¶5] 6. Will not our next task be to clean the corn by winnowing, Ischomachus? Yes, Socrates; and tell me, do you know that if you start on the windward side of the floor, you will find the husks carried right across the floor? It must be so.

> Greek: 6. οὐκοῦν, ἔφην ἐγώ, ὦ Ἰσχόμαχε, ἐκ τούτου δὴ καθαροῦμεν τὸν σῖτον λικμῶντες. καὶ λέξον γέ μοι, ὦ Σώκρατες, ἔφη ὁ Ἰσχόμαχος, ἦ οἶσθα ὅτι ἂν ἐκ τοῦ προσηνέμου μέρους τῆς ἅλω ἄρχῃ, διʼ ὅλης τῆς ἅλω οἴσεταί σοι τὰ ἄχυρα; ἀνάγκη γάρ, ἔφην ἐγώ.

[¶6] 7. Is it not likely, then, that some will fall on the grain? Yes, it is a long way for the husks to be blown, right over the grain to the empty part of the floor. But what if you start winnowing against the wind? Clearly the chaff will at once fall in the right place.

> Greek: 7. οὐκοῦν εἰκὸς καὶ ἐπιπίπτειν, ἔφη, αὐτὰ ἐπὶ τὸν σῖτον. πολὺ γάρ ἐστιν, ἔφην ἐγώ, τὸ ὑπερενεχθῆναι τὰ ἄχυρα ὑπὲρ τὸν σῖτον εἰς τὸ κενὸν τῆς ἅλω. ἂν δέ τις, ἔφη, λικμᾷ ἐκ τοῦ ὑπηνέμου ἀρχόμενος; Δῆλον, ἔφην ἐγώ, ὅτι εὐθὺς ἐν τῇ ἀχυροδόκῃ ἔσται τὰ ἄχυρα.

[¶7] 8. And as soon as you have cleaned the corn over one half of the floor, will you at once go on throwing up the rest of the chaff while the corn lies about just as it is, or will you first sweep the clean corn towards the edge, so as to occupy the smallest space? Of course I shall first sweep the clean corn up, so that my chaff may be carried across into the empty space, and I may not have to throw up the same chaff twice.

> Greek: 8. ἐπειδὰν δὲ καθάρῃς, ἔφη, τὸν σῖτον μέχρι τοῦ ἡμίσεος τῆς ἅλω, πότερον εὐθὺς οὕτω κεχυμένου τοῦ σίτου λικμήσεις τὰ ἄχυρα τὰ λοιπὰ ἢ συνώσας τὸν καθαρὸν πρὸς τὸν πόλον ὡς εἰς στενότατον; συνώσας νὴ Δίʼ, ἔφην ἐγώ, τὸν καθαρὸν σῖτον, ἵνʼ ὑπερφέρηταί μοι τὰ ἄχυρα εἰς τὸ κενὸν τῆς ἅλω, καὶ μὴ δὶς ταὐτὰ ἄχυρα δέῃ λικμᾶν.

[¶8] 9. Well, Socrates, it seems you are capable of teaching the quickest way of cleaning corn. I really wasn’t aware that I understood these things; and so I have been thinking for some time whether my knowledge extends to smelting gold, playing the flute, and painting pictures. For I have never been taught these things any more than I have been taught farming; but I have watched men working at these arts, just as I have watched them farming.

> Greek: 9. σὺ μὲν δὴ ἄρα, ἔφη, ὦ Σώκρατες, σῖτόν γε ὡς ἂν τάχιστα καθαρὸς γένοιτο κἂν ἄλλον δύναιο διδάσκειν. ταῦτα τοίνυν, ἔφην ἐγώ, ἐλελήθη ἐμαυτὸν ἐπιστάμενος. καὶ πάλαι ἐννοῶ ἄρα εἰ λέληθα καὶ χρυσοχοεῖν καὶ αὐλεῖν καὶ ζωγραφεῖν ἐπιστάμενος. ἐδίδαξε γὰρ οὔτε ταῦτά με οὐδεὶς οὔτε γεωργεῖν· ὁρῶ δʼ ὥσπερ γεωργοῦντας καὶ τὰς ἄλλας τέχνας ἐργαζομένους ἀνθρώπους.

[¶9] 10. And didn’t I tell you just now that farming is the noblest art for this among other reasons, because it is the easiest to learn? Enough, Ischomachus; I know. I understood about sowing, it seems, but I wasn’t aware that I understood.

> Greek: 10. οὐκοῦν, ἔφη ὁ Ἰσχόμαχος, ἔλεγον ἐγώ σοι πάλαι ὅτι καὶ ταύτῃ εἴη γενναιοτάτη ἡ γεωργικὴ τέχνη, ὅτι καὶ ῥᾴστη ἐστὶ μαθεῖν. ἄγε δή, ἔφην ἐγώ, οἶδα, ὦ Ἰσχόμαχε· τὰ μὲν δὴ ἀμφὶ σπόρον ἐπιστάμενος ἄρα ἐλελήθειν ἐμαυτὸν ἐπιστάμενος.