Conspicuous abstention from labour therefore becomes the conventional mark of superior pecuniary achievement and the conventional index of reputability； and conversely， since application to productive labour is a mark of poverty and subjection， it becomes inconsistent with a reputable standing in the community. Habits of industry and thrift， therefore， are not uniformly furthered by a prevailing pecuniary emulation. On the contrary， this kind of emulation indirectly discountenances participation in productive labour. Labour would unavoidably become dishonourable， as being an evidence indecorous under the ancient tradition handed down from an earlier cultural stage. The ancient tradition of the predatory culture is that productive effort is to be shunned as being unworthy of able-bodied men. and this tradition is reinforced rather than set aside in the passage from the predatory to the quasi-peaceable manner of life.
Even if the institution of a leisure class had not come in with the first emergence of individual ownership， by force of the dishonour attaching to productive employment， it would in any case have come in as one of the early consequences of ownership.
And it is to be remarked that while the leisure class existed in theory from the beginning of predatory culture， the institution takes on a new and fuller meaning with the transition from the predatory to the next succeeding pecuniary stage of culture. It is from this time forth a "leisure class" in fact as well as in theory. From this point dates the institution of the leisure class in its consummate form.
During the predatory stage proper the distinction between the leisure and the labouring class is in some degree a ceremonial distinction only. The able bodied men jealously stand aloof from whatever is in their apprehension， menial drudgery； but their activity in fact contributes appreciably to the sustenance of the group. The subsequent stage of quasi-peaceable industry is usually characterised by an established chattel slavery， herds of cattle， and a servile class of herdsmen and shepherds； industry has advanced so far that the community is no longer dependent for its livelihood on the chase or on any other form of activity that can fairly be classed as exploit. From this point on， the characteristic feature of leisure class life is a conspicuous exemption from all useful employment.
The normal and characteristic occupations of the class in this mature phase of its life history are in form very much the same as in its earlier days. These occupations are government， war， sports， and devout observances. Persons unduly given to difficult theoretical niceties may hold that these occupations are still incidentally and indirectly "productive"； but it is to be noted as decisive of the question in hand that the ordinary and ostensible motive of the leisure class in engaging in these occupations is assuredly not an increase of wealth by productive effort. At this as at any other cultural stage， government and war are， at least in part， carried on for the pecuniary gain of those who engage in them； but it is gain obtained by the honourable method of seizure and conversion. These occupations are of the nature of predatory， not of productive， employment.
Something similar may be said of the chase， but with a difference. As the community passes out of the hunting stage proper， hunting gradually becomes differentiated into two distinct employments. On the one hand it is a trade， carried on chiefly for gain； and from this the element of exploit is virtually absent， or it is at any rate not present in a sufficient degree to clear the pursuit of the imputation of gainful industry. On the other hand， the chase is also a sport -猘n exercise of the predatory impulse simply. As such it does not afford any appreciable pecuniary incentive， but it contains a more or less obvious element of exploit. It is this latter development of the chase -- purged of all imputation of handicraft -- that alone is meritorious and fairly belongs in the scheme of life of the developed leisure class.
Abstention from labour is not only a honorific or meritorious act， but it presently comes to be a requisite of decency. The insistence on property as the basis of reputability is very naive and very imperious during the early stages of the accumulation of wealth. Abstention from labour is the convenient evidence of wealth and is therefore the conventional mark of social standing； and this insistence on the meritoriousness of wealth leads to a more strenuous insistence on leisure. Nota notae est nota rei ipsius. According to well established laws of human nature， prescription presently seizes upon this conventional evidence of wealth and fixes it in men's habits of thought as something that is in itself substantially meritorious and ennobling； while productive labour at the same time and by a like process becomes in a double sense intrinsically unworthy.
Prescription ends by making labour not only disreputable in the eyes of the community， but morally impossible to the noble， freeborn man， and incompatible with a worthy life.
