 In the Oeconomicus, Socrates uses knowledge (epistêmê) and craft (technê) interchangeably to refer to the practical undertakings of a gentleman, called in Greek kalos k’agathos — literally one who is fine and good. He opens the work with the question whether estate management (oikonomia) is the name of a type of knowledge (epistêmê) like medicine, smithing, and carpentry. Then he asks whether he and his interlocutor can say what the function (ergon) of estate management is, just as they can say what are the functions of these other technai (I.1–2). When he uses epistêmê in what follows, the focus of his discussion is some aspect of estate or household management. He refers indifferently to the knowledge (epistêmê) and the craft (technê) of estate management and of farming; the latter includes sub-skills such as breeding stock (V.3) casting seed (XVII.7) and the planting of trees (XIX.1). However, there is a distinction between illiberal arts (banausikai technai) and those worthy of a gentleman. The latter are the craft of war (polemikê technê) and that of farming (geôrgia). The illiberal arts confine one to the workshop and narrow one’s interests to his own welfare; the crafts of war and farming give one a wider scope so that he can attend to his friends and city (IV.2–4; VI.5–9). In fact, farming is the mother and nurse of the other technai (V.17). However, knowledge by itself is not sufficient to prosper. There are those who have the knowledge and resources to increase their estates but are unwilling to do so (I.16). Others, like Socrates’ respondent Critoboulos, might gain such knowledge but do not have the wealth necessary to make use of it (II.11–13). Still, Socrates says, knowledge is not sufficient to profit but one also needs care and diligence in order to put his knowledge into effect (XX.2–6). This unused knowledge is not untried theory but neglected skill.