Politics: A Treatise on Government
necessarily follows that the virtue of all the citizens cannot be the
same; as the business of him who leads the band is different from the
other dancers. From all which proofs it is evident that the virtues of
a citizen cannot be one and the same. But do we never find those virtues
united which constitute a good man and excellent citizen? for we say,
such a one is an excellent magistrate and a prudent and good man; but
prudence is a necessary qualification for all those who engage in public
affairs. Nay, some persons affirm that the education of those who are
intended to command should, from the beginning, be different from other
citizens, as the children of kings are generally instructed in riding
and warlike exercises; and thus Euripides says:
"... No showy arts Be mine, but teach me what the state requires."
As if those who are to rule were to have an education peculiar to
themselves. But if we allow, that the virtues of a good man and a
good magistrate may be the same, and a citizen is one who obeys the
magistrate, it follows that the virtue of the one cannot in general be
the same as the virtue of the other, although it may be true of some
particular citizen; for the virtue of the magistrate must be different
from the virtue of the citizen. For which reason Jason declared that
was he deprived of his kingdom he should pine away with regret, as not
knowing how to live a private man. But it is a great recommendation to
know how to command as well as to obey; and to do both these things well
is the virtue of an accomplished citizen. If then the virtue of a good
man consists only in being able to command, but the virtue of a good
citizen renders him equally fit for the one as well as the other, the
commendation of both of them is not the same. It appears, then, that
both he who commands and he who obeys should each of them learn their
separate business: but that the citizen should be master of and
take part in both these, as any one may easily perceive; in a family
government there is no occasion for the master to know how to perform
the necessary offices, but rather to enjoy the labour of others; for to
do the other is a servile part. I mean by the other, the common family
business of the slave.
There are many sorts of slaves; for their employments are various: of
these the handicraftsmen are one, who, as their name imports, get their
living by the labour of their hands, and amongst these all mechanics are
included; [1277b] for which reasons such workmen, in some states, were
not formerly admitted into any share in the government; till at length
democracies were established: it is not therefore proper for any man
of honour, or any citizen, or any one who engages in public affairs, to
learn these servile employments without they have occasion for them for
their own use; for without this was observed the distinction between a
master and a slave would be lost. But there is a government of another
sort, in which men govern those who are their equals in rank, and
freemen, which we call a political government, in which men learn to
command by first submitting to obey, as a good general of horse, or a
commander-in-chief, must acquire a knowledge of their duty by
having been long under the command of another, and the like in every
appointment in the army: for well is it said, no one knows how to
command who has not himself been under command of another. The virtues
of those are indeed different, but a good citizen must necessarily be
endowed with them; he ought also to know in what manner freemen ought
to govern, as well as be governed: and this, too, is the duty of a good
man. And if the temperance and justice of him who commands is different
from his who, though a freeman, is under command, it is evident that the
virtues of a good citizen cannot be the same as justice, for instance
but must be of a different species in these two different situations, as
the temperance and courage of a man and a woman are different from each
other; for a man would appear a coward who had only that courage which
would be graceful in a woman, and a woman would be thought a talker who
should take as large a part in the conversation as would become a man of
consequence.
The domestic employments of each of them are also different; it is the
man's business to acquire subsistence, the woman's to take care of it.
But direction and knowledge of public affairs is a virtue peculiar to
those who govern, while all others seem to be equally requisite for both
parties; but with this the governed have no concern, it is theirs to
entertain just notions: they indeed are like flute-makers, while those
who govern are the musicians who play on them. And thus much to show
whether the virtue of a good man and an excellent citizen is the same,
or if it is different, and also how far it is the same, and how far
different.
CHAPTER V
But with respect to citizens there is a doubt remaining, whether those
only are truly so who are allowed to share in the government, or whether
the mechanics also are to be considered as such? for if those who are
not permitted to rule are to be reckoned among them, it is impossible
that the virtue of all the citizens should be the same, for these also
are citizens; and if none of them are admitted to be citizens, where
shall they be ranked? for they are neither [1278a] sojourners nor
foreigners? or shall we say that there will no inconvenience arise from
their not being citizens, as they are neither slaves nor freedmen:
for this is certainly true, that all those are not citizens who are
necessary to the existence of a city, as boys are not citizens in the
same manner that men are, for those are perfectly so, the others under
some conditions; for they are citizens, though imperfect ones: for
in former times among some people the mechanics were either slaves or
foreigners, for which reason many of them are so now: and indeed the
best regulated states will not permit a mechanic to be a citizen; but
if it be allowed them, we cannot then attribute the virtue we have
described to every citizen or freeman, but to those only who are
disengaged from servile offices. Now those who are employed by one
person in them are slaves; those who do them for money are mechanics
and hired servants: hence it is evident on the least reflection what is
their situation, for what I have said is fully explained by appearances.
Since the number of communities is very great, it follows necessarily
that there will be many different sorts of citizens, particularly
of those who are governed by others, so that in one state it may be
necessary to admit mechanics and hired servants to be citizens, but in
others it may be impossible; as particularly in an aristocracy, where
honours are bestowed on virtue and dignity: for it is impossible for
one who lives the life of a mechanic or hired servant to acquire the
practice of virtue. In an oligarchy also hired servants are not admitted
to be citizens; because there a man's right to bear any office is
regulated by his fortune; but mechanics are, for many citizens are very
rich.
There was a law at Thebes that no one could have a share in the
government till he had been ten years out of trade. In many states the
law invites strangers to accept the freedom of the city; and in some
democracies the son of a free-woman is himself free. The same is also
observed in many others with respect to natural children; but it is
through want of citizens regularly born that they admit such: for these
laws are always made in consequence of a scarcity of inhabitants; so,
as their numbers increase, they first deprive the children of a male or
female slave of this privilege, next the child of a free-woman, and last
of all they will admit none but those whose fathers and mothers were
both free.
That there are many sorts of citizens, and that he may be said to be as
completely who shares the honours of the state, is evident from what
has been already said. Thus Achilles, in Homer, complains of Agamemnon's
treating him like an unhonoured stranger; for a stranger or sojourner is
one who does not partake of the honours of the state: and whenever the
right to the freedom of the city is kept obscure, it is for the sake of
the inhabitants. [1278b] From what has been said it is plain whether the
virtue of a good man and an excellent citizen is the same or different:
and we find that in some states it is the same, in others not; and also
that this is not true of each citizen, but of those only who take the
lead, or are capable of taking the lead, in public affairs, either alone
or in conjunction with others.
CHAPTER VI
Having established these points, we proceed next to consider whether one
form of government only should be established, or more than one; and if
more, how many, and of what sort, and what are the differences between
them. The form of government is the ordering and regulating of the city,
and all the offices in it, particularly those wherein the supreme power
is lodged; and this power is always possessed by the administration; but
the administration itself is that particular form of government which
is established in any state: thus in a democracy the supreme power is
lodged in the whole people; on the contrary, in an oligarchy it is in
the hands of a few. We say then, that the form of government in these
states is different, and we shall find the same thing hold good in
others. Let us first determine for whose sake a city is established;
and point out the different species of rule which man may submit to in
social life.
I have already mentioned in my treatise on the management of a family,
and the power of the master, that man is an animal naturally formed
for society, and that therefore, when he does not want any foreign
assistance, he will of his own accord desire to live with others; not
but that mutual advantage induces them to it, as far as it enables each
person to live more agreeably; and this is indeed the great object
not only to all in general, but also to each individual: but it is not
merely matter of choice, but they join in society also, even that they
may be able to live, which probably is not without some share of merit,
and they also support civil society, even for the sake of preserving
life, without they are grievously overwhelmed with the miseries of it:
for it is very evident that men will endure many calamities for the sake
of living, as being something naturally sweet and desirable. It is easy
to point out the different modes of government, and we have already
settled them in our exoteric discourses. The power of the master, though
by nature equally serviceable, both to the master and to the slave, yet
nevertheless has for its object the benefit of the master, while the
benefit of the slave arises accidentally; for if the slave is destroyed,
the power of the master is at an end: but the authority which a man
has over his wife, and children, and his family, which we call domestic
government, is either for the benefit of those who are under subjection,
or else for the common benefit of the whole: but its particular object
is the benefit of the governed, as we see in other arts; in physic, for
instance, and the gymnastic exercises, wherein, if any benefit [1279a]
arise to the master, it is accidental; for nothing forbids the master of
the exercises from sometimes being himself one of those who exercises,
as the steersman is always one of the sailors; but both the master of
the exercises and the steersman consider the good of those who are under
their government. Whatever good may happen to the steersman when he is
a sailor, or to the master of the exercises when he himself makes one at
the games, is not intentional, or the object of their power; thus in all