uneral
expenses of others (cf. for other instances Plutarch's _Cimon_,
Theophrastus, _Eth._, and Xen. _Econ._).

(7) There were also mutual help societies ([Greek: eranoi]). Those for
relief would appear to have been loan societies (cf. Theoph. _Eth._),
one of whose members would beat up contributions to help a friend, who
would afterwards repay the advance.

The criticisms of Aristotle (384-321 B.C.) suggest the direction to
which he looked for reform. He (_Pol._ 1320 a) passes a very
unfavourable judgment on the distribution of public money to the
poorer citizens. The demagogues (he does not speak of Athens
particularly) distributed the surplus revenues to the poor, who
received them all at the same time; and then they were in want again.
It was only, he argued, like pouring water through a sieve. It were
better to see to it that the greater number were not so entirely
destitute, for the depravity of a democratic government was due to
this. The problem was to contrive how plenty ([Greek: euporia], not
poverty, [Greek: aporia]) should become permanent. His proposals are
adequate aid and voluntary charity. Public relief should, he urges, be
given in large amounts so as to help people to acquire small farms or
start in business, and the well-to-do ([Greek: euporoi]) should in the
meantime subscribe to pay the poor for their attendance at the public
assemblies. (This proves, indeed, how the payments had become poor
relief.) He mentions also how the Carthaginian notables divided the
destitute amongst them and gave them the means of setting to work, and
the Tarentines ([Greek: koina poiountes]) shared their property with
the poor. (The Rhodians also may be mentioned (Strabo xiv. c. 652),
amongst whom the well-to-do undertook the relief of the poor
voluntarily.) The later word for charitable distribution was a sharing
([Greek: koinonia], Ep. Rom. xv. 26), which would seem to indicate
that after Aristotle's time popular thought had turned in that
direction. But the chief service rendered by Aristotle--a service
which covered indeed the whole ground of social progress--was to show
that unless the purpose of civil and social life was carefully
considered and clearly realized by those who desired to improve its
conditions, no change for the better could result from individual or
associated action.

Two forms of charity have still to be mentioned: charity