Economics

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.

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.

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,[*](The meaning of πόλος here is really unknown, I believe.) 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.

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.

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.