The Dignity of Labour (Work) Outline: Manual work formerly given to slaves Manual work is now free labour, but still looked down upon by some The distinction between manual and mental work misleading The Dignity of honest labour Conclusion By 'labour' we generally mean manual work; that is, work done with the hands, as distinguished from work, or work done with the hands. In ancient times, manual labour was looked down upon and then it was treated as an inferior being, Most ancient states were based upon slave labour. In Egypt, the great pyramids were built by slaves. It required intensive labour. Even the Greek city-states consisted of a small number of free citizens, who devoted themselves to the higher arts and professions and left all manual labour to slaves. And yet it was anxiety Greece that taught the world lessons of political liberty and self-government! In modern times slavery has been abolished by all civilized nations, yet a hundred years ago slavery still existed a