322 ECONOMICS AND THE STATE XII
'the Man of the Demos' or 'the Man in the StieetV was the
true representative pf a State which since the time of Klei-
sthenes had based its political structure on the deme The
Kleisthemc order, which had at this time been in force for
about a century, with its uniform organization of the State and
its dexterous mingling of the people, formed a framework to
which Athenian society adapted itself only gradually, never-
theless that order had created and moulded the general type of
citizen.
The Athenians did not turn away from politics on principle,
and certainly not in a sudden and general movement. Like-
wise it is unjustifiable simply to assume, as is frequently done,
that the majority of the citizens lived in and through politics
only. We do not deny that there were many men who lived
more or less on the State,2 but there were opposing forces,
in both real and ideal life. Let us not forget that large sections
of the people had, in spite of their own occupations, much time
on their hands Many of them had little difficulty in leaving
their work for a day or even several days, provided they re-
ceived the compensation of a small fee. The peasants worked
really hard only for about half the year, and the traders did
not put to sea during the winter. Others too were much freer
than men of similar vocation and similar social standards in
other ages The retailer or artisan, for instance, was his own
master, depending on, and responsible to, nobody else; there
was nothing to prevent his occasionally closing his shop. The
fact that the shops and workshops were so small and so
numerous made it easier for a large number of their owners
to accept public payment, though this did not necessarily
mean that they actually lived on the State. For a long time at
least, political and economic activities remained more or less
evenly balanced 8 When economic needs became too strong
and the citizens turned away from politics, the State inter-
1 For the 6T){Ji6Tr|S see, above, p 82 n 3 av6pcoTro$ |§ 6Sou is a phrase actu-
ally used byEupolis 25 D
2 This is the so-called Staatsrentnertum which plays such a great part m modern
literature, especially in Hasebroek's often-quoted book
a Cf the lively description by Ferguson, Americ. Hist Rev XLV (1940), 273
*As farmers, traders, seamen, contractors, manufacturers, artisans, labourers, the
Athenians had to work for their living, but they took an amount of time off for
public service and, we may add, for talk, sport, and conviviality, which would
have wrecked our economic system,'