Oeconomicus

The Oeconomicus (Greek: Οἰκονομικός) by Xenophon is a Socratic dialogue principally about household management and agriculture.

Oeconomicus comes from the

Joseph Epstein states that the Oeconomicus can actually be seen as a treatise on success in leading both an army and a state. Scholars lean towards a relatively late date in Xenophon's life for the composition of the Oeconomicus, perhaps after 362 BC. Cicero translated the Oeconomicus into Latin, and the work gained popularity during the Renaissance in a number of translations.

Summary

The opening framing dialogue is between Socrates and Critoboulus, the son of Crito. There, Socrates discusses the meaning of wealth and identifies it with usefulness and well-being, not merely possessions. He links moderation and hard work to success in household management. The dramatic date of this part of the work can be no earlier than 401 BC, as the Battle of Cunaxa is referred to at 4.18. In his conversation with Critoboulus, Socrates explains the value of property to each man and how some men value certain possessions more than others. Socrates uses flutes as an example:

Then although they are the same, they are property to him who knows how to use each of them, but to him who does not know, they are no property; as for instance flutes are property to one who knows how to play tolerably well, but to one who does not know are nothing more than useless pebbles, unless indeed he should sell them (Trans. by B.J. Hayes, 1.10)

Critoboulus claims that a man’s wealth consists of things that benefit, while the things that do not benefit and injure him are not part of his wealth. Continuing with the flute analogy, he concludes that as possessions, they are worthless, but if sold, they become part of the man’s wealth. Socrates and Critoboulus go on to use money as an example. If a man does not know how to use something, it is therefore not his property. With money, if a man does not know how to use it then he should not consider it as his property. Socrates makes the argument that a man's assets are not property unless he learns to use them diligently and wisely. This relates back to his points about effectively managing a household and leads him to talk about his conversation with Ischomachus.

When Critoboulus asks about the practices involved in household management, Socrates pleads ignorance on the subject but relates what he heard of it from an Athenian

The import of such irony has also been the subject of much contention: are his wife's actions a sign of a bad education or just the inevitable result of the loss of the controlling influence in her life? How responsible was Ischomachus for his daughter's marriage to a man of such poor character?

Gender roles and social change in Oeconomicus

According to Sarah Pomeroy, the change from the fifth to fourth century largely was the shift from communal concerns to self-interested concerns. This general societal acceptance of the importance of the domestic sphere is represented in Oeconomicus' examination of marital relationships and household management. In Pomeroy's commentary, she argues that Xenophon views a wife as more than just a means of reproduction. This is contrary to misogynistic Athenian ideals of marriage where once a wife birthed the necessary number of children, she was essentially viewed as a consumer.^[4] In Oeconomicus, Ischomachus incorporates his wife into household management as soon as they are married and even relies on her to run the household. He does not hide away assets he sees as property, rather he shares them with her. He sees his marriage as a give-and-take relationship, where both he and his wife share equal parts in its success.

Manuscripts

• Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 227

See also

• Ancient economic thought

Notes