All the golden societies of the past to which historians point and turn their wistful smiles have had what patience-players would call a discard pile. They operated on two levels with a slave class who worked, ate, slept, and died and a leisured class who reclined on one elbow and spoke. Naturally it is from this latter group that we learn what life at that time was like. It often makes charming reading but we can hardly take it to be the whole truth. . Quentin Crisp
About This Quote

Historians often look at the golden societies of the past and get a wistful smile on their face. However, they rarely get to talk to people from these societies. The idea is that the people who lived in these golden societies were impossibly good and had their time wasted away on a useless pastime. It also implies that a slave class was a normal part of society.

This is ridiculous. People today try to compare their current day society with the golden age of antiquity and it is more of a comparison between different eras.

Source: How To Have A Lifestyle

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