Politics: A Treatise on Government
whole world, could they agree upon one system of policy. Now this is the
difference between the Grecians and other nations, that the latter have
but one of these qualities, whereas in the former they are both happily
blended together. Hence it is evident, that those persons ought to be
both sensible and courageous who will readily obey a legislator, the
object of whose laws is virtue. As to what some persons say, that the
military must be mild and tender to those they know, but severe and
cruel to those they know not, it is courage which [1328a] makes any one
lovely; for that is the faculty of the soul which we most admire: as
a proof of this, our resentment rises higher against our friends and
acquaintance than against those we know not: for which reason Archilaus
accusing his friends says very properly to himself, Shall my friends
insult me? The spirit of freedom and command also is what all inherit
who are of this disposition for courage is commanding and invincible. It
also is not right for any one to say, that you should be severe to those
you know not; for this behaviour is proper for no one: nor are those who
are of a noble disposition harsh in their manners, excepting only to the
wicked; and when they are particularly so, it is, as has been already
said, against their friends, when they think they have injured them;
which is agreeable to reason: for when those who think they ought to
receive a favour from any one do not receive it, beside the injury done
them, they consider what they are deprived of: hence the saying, "Cruel
are the wars of brothers;" and this, "Those who have greatly loved
do greatly hate." And thus we have nearly determined how many the
inhabitants of a city ought to be, and what their natural disposition,
and also the country how large, and of what sort is necessary; I say
nearly, because it is needless to endeavour at as great accuracy in
those things which are the objects of the senses as in those which are
inquired into by the understanding only.
CHAPTER VIII
As in natural bodies those things are not admitted to be parts of them
without which the whole would not exist, so also it is evident that in
a political state everything that is necessary thereunto is not to be
considered as a part of it, nor any other community from whence one
whole is made; for one thing ought to be common and the same to the
community, whether they partake of it equally or unequally, as, for
instance, food, land, or the like; but when one thing is for the benefit
of one person, and another for the benefit of another, in this there is
nothing like a community, excepting that one makes it and the other
uses it; as, for instance, between any instrument employed in making any
work, and the workmen, as there is nothing common between the house and
the builder, but the art of the builder is employed on the house. Thus
property is necessary for states, but property is no part of the state,
though many species of it have life; but a city is a community of
equals, for the purpose of enjoying the best life possible: but the
happiest life is the best which consists in the perfect practice of
virtuous energies: as therefore some persons have great, others little
or no opportunity of being employed in these, it is evident that this
is the cause of the difference there is between the different cities and
communities there are to be found; for while each of these endeavour to
acquire what is best by various and different means, they give [1328b]
rise to different modes of living and different forms of government. We
are now to consider what those things are without which a city cannot
possibly exist; for what we call parts of the city must of necessity
inhere in it: and this we shall plainly understand, if we know the
number of things necessary to a city: first, the inhabitants must
have food: secondly, arts, for many instruments are necessary in life:
thirdly, arms, for it is necessary that the community should have an
armed force within themselves, both to support their government against
those of their own body who might refuse obedience to it, and also
to defend it from those who might attempt to attack it from without:
fourthly, a certain revenue, as well for the internal necessities of
the state as for the business of war: fifthly, which is indeed the chief
concern, a religious establishment: sixthly in order, but first of all
in necessity, a court to determine both criminal and civil causes. These
things are absolutely necessary, so to speak, in every state; for a city
is a number of people not accidentally met together, but with a purpose
of ensuring to themselves sufficient independency and self-protection;
and if anything necessary for these purposes is wanting, it is
impossible that in such a situation these ends can be obtained. It is
necessary therefore that a city should be capable of acquiring all these
things: for this purpose a proper number of husbandmen are necessary to
procure food, also artificers and soldiers, and rich men, and priests
and judges, to determine what is right and proper.
CHAPTER IX
Having determined thus far, it remains that we consider whether all
these different employments shall be open to all; for it is possible
to continue the same persons always husbandmen, artificers, judges,
or counsellors; or shall we appoint different persons to each of those
employments which we have already mentioned; or shall some of them be
appropriated to particulars, and others of course common to all? but
this does not take place in every state, for, as we have already said,
it is possible that all may be common to all, or not, but only common to
some; and this is the difference between one government and another:
for in democracies the whole community partakes of everything, but in
oligarchies it is different.
Since we are inquiring what is the best government possible, and it is
admitted to be that in which the citizens are happy; and that, as we
have already said, it is impossible to obtain happiness without virtue;
it follows, that in the best-governed states, where the citizens are
really men of intrinsic and not relative goodness, none of them should
be permitted to exercise any mechanic employment or follow merchandise,
as being ignoble and destructive to virtue; neither should they be
husband-[1329a] men, that they may be at leisure to improve in virtue
and perform the duty they owe to the state. With respect to the
employments of a soldier, a senator, and a judge, which are evidently
necessary to the community, shall they be allotted to different persons,
or shall the same person execute both? This question, too, is easily
answered: for in some cases the same persons may execute them, in
others they should be different, where the different employments require
different abilities, as when courage is wanting for one, judgment for
the other, there they should be allotted to different persons; but when
it is evident, that it is impossible to oblige those who have arms
in their hands, and can insist on their own terms, to be always under
command; there these different employments should be trusted to one
person; for those who have arms in their hands have it in their option
whether they will or will not assume the supreme power: to these two
(namely, those who have courage and judgment) the government must be
entrusted; but not in the same manner, but as nature directs; what
requires courage to the young, what requires judgment to the old; for
with the young is courage, with the old is wisdom: thus each will be
allotted the part they are fit for according to their different merits.
It is also necessary that the landed property should belong to these
men; for it is necessary that the citizens should be rich, and these are
the men proper for citizens; for no mechanic ought to be admitted to the
rights of a citizen, nor any other sort of people whose employment is
not entirely noble, honourable, and virtuous; this is evident from the
principle we at first set out with; for to be happy it is necessary
to be virtuous; and no one should say that a city is happy while he
considers only one part of its citizens, but for that purpose he ought
to examine into all of them. It is evident, therefore, that the landed
property should belong to these, though it may be necessary for them to
have husbandmen, either slaves, barbarians, or servants. There remains
of the different classes of the people whom we have enumerated, the
priests, for these evidently compose a rank by themselves; for neither
are they to be reckoned amongst the husbandmen nor the mechanics; for
reverence to the gods is highly becoming every state: and since the
citizens have been divided into orders, the military and the council,
and it is proper to offer due worship to the gods, and since it is
necessary that those who are employed in their service should have
nothing else to do, let the business of the priesthood be allotted
to those who are in years. We have now shown what is necessary to the
existence of a city, and of what parts it consists, and that husbandmen,
mechanic, and mercenary servants are necessary to a city; but that
the parts of it are soldiers and sailors, and that these are always
different from those, but from each other only occasionally.
CHAPTER X
It seems neither now nor very lately to have been known [1329b] to those
philosophers who have made politics their study, that a city ought to
be divided by families into different orders of men; and that the
husbandmen and soldiers should be kept separate from each other;
which custom is even to this day preserved in Egypt and in Crete; also
Sesostris having founded it in Egypt, Minos in Crete. Common meals seem
also to have been an ancient regulation, and to have been established
in Crete during the reign of Minos, and in a still more remote period
in Italy; for those who are the best judges in that country say that
one Italus being king of AEnotria., from whom the people, changing their
names, were called Italians instead of AEnotrians, and that part of
Europe was called Italy which is bounded by the Scylletic Gulf on the
one side and the Lametic on the other, the distance between which
is about half a day's journey. This Italus, they relate, made the
AEnotrians, who were formerly shepherds, husbandmen, and gave them
different laws from what they had before, and to have been the first who
established common meals, for which reason some of his descendants still
use them, and observe some of his laws. The Opici inhabit that part
which lies towards the Tyrrhenian Sea, who both now are and formerly
were called Ausonians. The Chones inhabited the part toward Iapigia and
the Ionian Sea which is called Syrtis. These Chones were descended
from the AEnotrians. Hence arose the custom of common meals, but the
separation of the citizens into different families from Egypt: for the
reign of Sesostris is of much higher antiquity than that of Minos. As
we ought to think that most other things were found out in a long, nay,
even in a boundless time (reason teaching us that want would make us
first invent that which was necessary, and, when that was obtained, then
those things which were requisite for the conveniences and ornament of
life), so should we conclude the same with respect to a political state;
now everything in Egypt bears the marks of the most remote antiquity,
for these people seem to be the most ancient of all others, and to have
acquired laws and political order; we should therefore make a proper
use of what is told us of them, and endeavour to find out what they have
omitted. We have already said, that the landed property ought to belong
to the military and those who partake of the government of the state;