Note 607 — Chapter VI · ARISTOTLE

Pol. v (viii). 2. 1337b8-11. The terms for mechanical labor are τέχνη, of ability through practice; δημιουργός, of one who works for the people, rather than for himself or one other; βάναυσος, originally of work by the fire, but later the common term for mechanical labor, usually with a derogatory sense in the philosophers; cf. βαναυσία, “vulgarity,” N. Eth. iv. 4. 1122a31; βάναυσος, “vulgar man,” ibid. 1123a19; Etymol. mag; Schol. to Plato Rep. 495E; Pollux i. 64. 50; Hesychius, s.v. The Greeks did not clearly distinguish the finer from the mechanical arts; cf. Büchsenschütz, op. cit., p. 266; Pol. vi (iv). 4. 1291a1 ff., where all are included under βάναυσον. Cf. Cope-Sandys, Ar. Rhet., 2d ed., I, 9, 27, note. Cf. above, p. 33, n. 7, for Ruskin’s attitude.