Aristotle, Economics

[1345a] [1] each man ought to attend to his affairs in person. We may commend also a pair of sayings, one attributed to a Persian and the other to a Libyan. The former on being asked what best conditions a horse, replied "His master's eye."¹ The Libyan, when asked what kind of manure is best, answered "The master's footprints."

The master and mistress should, therefore, give personal supervision, each to his or her special department of the household work. In small households, an occasional inspection will suffice; in estates managed through stewards, inspections must be frequent. For in stewardship as in other matters there can be no good copy without a good example; and if the master and mistress do not attend diligently to their estate, their deputies will certainly not do so.

Moreover, as such habits are both commendable for moral reasons and also conducive to good management, the master and mistress will do well to rise earlier than their servants and to retire later; to treat their home as a city, and never leave it unguarded; nor ever, by night or by day, to postpone a task which ought to be done. Rising before daylight is also to be commended; it is a healthy habit, and gives more time for the management of the household as well as for liberal studies.

We have remarked that on small holdings the Athenian method of disposing of the produce is advantageous. [20] On large estates, after the amount for the year's or the month's outlay has been set apart, it should be handed to the overseers; and so also with implements, whether for daily or for occasional use. In addition, an inspection of implements and stores should be made periodically, so that remainders and deficiencies may alike be noted.

In constructing a homestead, we have to provide for the stock which it is to shelter, and for its health and well-being. Providing for the stock involves questions such as these: What type of building is best for the storage of crops and of clothing? How are we to store the dry crops, and how the moist ones? Of the other stock, how is the living to be housed, and how the dead? and what accommodation are we to make for slaves and free, for women and men, for foreigners and fellow-citizens? For well-being and health, again, the homestead should be airy in summer, and sunny in winter.

A homestead possessing these qualities would be longer than it is deep; and its main front would face the south. On large estates, moreover, it seems worth while to instal as porter a man incapable of other work, to keep his eye on what passes in and out.