tendency of the majority in any social group to follow trendsetters is an
idea that we tend to take for granted. In classical antiquity it is well
represented in perfume pots and votive offerings, but also in the frequent
allusions to counterfeit goods. Attic comedy provides a wealth of
examples of poor quality produce, dry and inferior products, and dubi-
ous imitations.^47
Veblen’sdefinition of‘leisure’makes a direct connection between
social value and social employment.‘The early ascendancy of leisure as
a means of reputability is traceable to the archaic distinction between
noble and ignoble employments. Leisure is honourable and becomes
imperative partly because it shows exemption from ignoble labour.’^48
This association of leisure with manifest lack of employment in servile or
manual work was not only widespread in Greek aristocratic circles (and
adopted vicariously by the citizens of Athens), but wefind a particularly
close example of Veblen’s model in the lifestyle of the Thracian élite,
when Herodotus draws attention to the conspicuous leisure of their
horse-breeding warriors, with their distinctive martial ethos:‘To wear
tattoos they [the Thracians] consider a mark of distinction; not to be
tattooed a mark of low birth. Thefinest man is the man of leisure, while
the one who works the soil is without respect. They consider thefinest
life to be one of martial pursuits and plunder.’(Hdt. 5.6) Wefind similar
values among the Macedonian royal élite, with their tastes for hunting,
training in war, and convivial feasts (Fig. 4.9).^49 Thanks to Veblen’s
analysis, we can view statements like those of Herodotus and Theopom-
pos in the wider context of other‘leisurely’élites.
Veblen’s argument tends to underestimate the genuine productive
capacities of the‘leisurely’classes he was observing. But he had an
important qualification when isolating those social groups whom he
categorized as‘unproductive’in a literal sense. Conspicuous consump-
tion is, in Veblen’s model, balanced by what he calls‘the instinct of
workmanship’:‘Other circumstances permitting, that instinct disposes
men to look with favour upon productive efficiency and on whatever is of
human use. It disposes them to deprecate waste of substance or
effort. The instinct of workmanship is present in all men, and asserts
itself even under very adverse circumstances.’^50 Few sociologists and
(^47) Foxhall 1998 and Archibald 2007 on perfume pots; Wilkins 2000, 156–201, for
references to inferior imitations in Attic comedy. 48
Veblen 1899 [2007], 64.
(^49) See for example Theop.FGrH115 F81, 224, 225, 236, 282; Sawada 2010. See also now
the contributions toTout vendre, tout acheter.
(^50) Veblen 1899 [2007], 64–5.
160 Thelongue duréein the north Aegean