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The Arcades Project - Operi

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Mensonge. "-In the same section, Baudelaire cites the concept of "the femina<br />

simplex of the Roman satirise' (L 'Art romantique [Paris], p. 109),'1 [Z2a,2]<br />

Beginnings oflarge-scalc industry: "We find great numbers of peasants emigrating<br />

to the cities, where steam energy permits the concentration of factories that formerly<br />

were scattered along the banks of rivers." Pierre-Maxime Schuhl, Machinisme<br />

et philosophie (Paris, 1938), Pl" 56-57. [Z2a,3]<br />

" Aristotle declares that slavery would cease to he necessary if only the shuttles and<br />

plectrums could set themselves going on their own. <strong>The</strong> idea accords admirably<br />

with his definition of the slave as animated instrument . ... By the same token, the<br />

ancient poet Pherecydes of Syros had told how the Dactyls, after huilding a new<br />

house for Zeus, had fashioned for him male and female servants as well. We are in<br />

the realm of fable . ... Yet hefore three centuries have passed, an Anthology poet,<br />

Antiphilos of Byzantium, offers a response to Aristotle by singing of the invention<br />

of the water mill, which lil)erates women from the arduous task of grinding: "Spare<br />

the hand that grinds the corn, 0 miller girls, and softly sleep. Let Chanticleer<br />

announce the morn in vain! Demeter has commanded that the girls' work be done<br />

by Nymphs, and now they sldp lightly over the wheels, so that the shaken axles<br />

revolve wit.h t.heir spokes and pull round the load of revolving stones. Let us live<br />

the life of our fathers, and let us rest. from work and enjoy the gifts that Demeter<br />

sends us." (Note: r,'Anthologic Palatine, vol. 9, p. 418. This epigram ... has already<br />

been related to the text of Aristotle, and for t.he first time, it would seem, hy<br />

Marx"-pl'csumably, in Kapital, vo!' 3 , 1'. 61.)<br />

Pierre-Maxime Schuhl, Machinisme et philosophic (Paris, 1938), pp. 19-20.:><br />

[Z3]

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