Politics: A Treatise on Government
man who is unworthily in slavery is therefore a slave; for if so, men of
the noblest families might happen to be slaves, and the descendants of
slaves, if they should chance to be taken prisoners in war and sold: to
avoid this difficulty they say that such persons should not be called
slaves, but barbarians only should; but when they say this, they do
nothing more than inquire who is a slave by nature, which was what we
at first said; for we must acknowledge that there are some persons
who, wherever they are, must necessarily be slaves, but others in no
situation; thus also it is with those of noble descent: it is not only
in their own country that they are Esteemed as such, but everywhere,
but the barbarians are respected on this account at home only; as if
nobility and freedom were of two sorts, the one universal, the other not
so. Thus says the Helen of Theodectes:
"Who dares reproach me with the name of slave? When from the
immortal gods, on either side, I draw my lineage."
Those who express sentiments like these, shew only that they distinguish
the slave and the freeman, the noble and the ignoble from each other
by their virtues and their [1255b] vices; for they think it reasonable,
that as a man begets a man, and a beast a beast, so from a good man, a
good man should be descended; and this is what nature desires to do, but
frequently cannot accomplish it. It is evident then that this doubt
has some reason in it, and that these persons are not slaves, and those
freemen, by the appointment of nature; and also that in some instances
it is sufficiently clear, that it is advantageous to both parties for
this man to be a slave, and that to be a master, and that it is right
and just, that some should be governed, and others govern, in the manner
that nature intended; of which sort of government is that which a master
exercises over a slave. But to govern ill is disadvantageous to both;
for the same thing is useful to the part and to the whole, to the body
and to the soul; but the slave is as it were a part of the master, as if
he were an animated part of his body, though separate. For which reason
a mutual utility and friendship may subsist between the master and the
slave, I mean when they are placed by nature in that relation to each
other, for the contrary takes place amongst those who are reduced to
slavery by the law, or by conquest.
CHAPTER VII
It is evident from what has been said, that a herile and a political
government are not the same, or that all governments are alike to each
other, as some affirm; for one is adapted to the nature of freemen, the
other to that of slaves. Domestic government is a monarchy, for that is
what prevails in every house; but a political state is the government of
free men and equals. The master is not so called from his knowing how to
manage his slave, but because he is so; for the same reason a slave and
a freeman have their respective appellations. There is also one sort of
knowledge proper for a master, another for a slave; the slave's is of
the nature of that which was taught by a slave at Syracuse; for he for
a stipulated sum instructed the boys in all the business of a household
slave, of which there are various sorts to be learnt, as the art of
cookery, and other such-like services, of which some are allotted to
some, and others to others; some employments being more honourable,
others more necessary; according to the proverb, "One slave excels
another, one master excels another:" in such-like things the knowledge
of a slave consists. The knowledge of the master is to be able properly
to employ his slaves, for the mastership of slaves is the employment,
not the mere possession of them; not that this knowledge contains
anything great or respectable; for what a slave ought to know how to do,
that a master ought to know how to order; for which reason, those who
have it in their power to be free from these low attentions, employ a
steward for this business, and apply themselves either to public affairs
or philosophy: the knowledge of procuring what is necessary for a family
is different from that which belongs either to the master or the slave:
and to do this justly must be either by war or hunting. And thus much of
the difference between a master and a slave.
CHAPTER VIII
[1256a] As a slave is a particular species of property, let us by
all means inquire into the nature of property in general, and the
acquisition of money, according to the manner we have proposed. In the
first place then, some one may doubt whether the getting of money is
the same thing as economy, or whether it is a part of it, or something
subservient to it; and if so, whether it is as the art of making
shuttles is to the art of weaving, or the art of making brass to that
of statue founding, for they are not of the same service; for the one
supplies the tools, the other the matter: by the matter I mean the
subject out of which the work is finished, as wool for the cloth and
brass for the statue. It is evident then that the getting of money is
not the same thing as economy, for the business of the one is to furnish
the means of the other to use them; and what art is there employed in
the management of a family but economy, but whether this is a part of
it, or something of a different species, is a doubt; for if it is
the business of him who is to get money to find out how riches and
possessions may be procured, and both these arise from various
causes, we must first inquire whether the art of husbandry is part of
money-getting or something different, and in general, whether the same
is not true of every acquisition and every attention which relates to
provision. But as there are many sorts of provision, so are the methods
of living both of man and the brute creation very various; and as it is
impossible to live without food, the difference in that particular makes
the lives of animals so different from each other. Of beasts, some
live in herds, others separate, as is most convenient for procuring
themselves food; as some of them live upon flesh, others on fruit, and
others on whatsoever they light on, nature having so distinguished
their course of life, that they can very easily procure themselves
subsistence; and as the same things are not agreeable to all, but one
animal likes one thing and another another, it follows that the lives
of those beasts who live upon flesh must be different from the lives of
those who live on fruits; so is it with men, their lives differ greatly
from each other; and of all these the shepherd's is the idlest, for they
live upon the flesh of tame animals, without any trouble, while they are
obliged to change their habitations on account of their flocks, which
they are compelled to follow, cultivating, as it were, a living farm.
Others live exercising violence over living creatures, one pursuing this
thing, another that, these preying upon men; those who live near lakes
and marshes and rivers, or the sea itself, on fishing, while others are
fowlers, or hunters of wild beasts; but the greater part of mankind live
upon the produce of the earth and its cultivated fruits; and the manner
in which all those live who follow the direction of nature, and labour
for their own subsistence, is nearly the same, without ever thinking
to procure any provision by way of exchange or merchandise, such are
shepherds, husband-men, [1256b] robbers, fishermen, and hunters: some
join different employments together, and thus live very agreeably;
supplying those deficiencies which were wanting to make their
subsistence depend upon themselves only: thus, for instance, the same
person shall be a shepherd and a robber, or a husbandman and a hunter;
and so with respect to the rest, they pursue that mode of life which
necessity points out. This provision then nature herself seems to have
furnished all animals with, as well immediately upon their first origin
as also when they are arrived at a state of maturity; for at the first
of these periods some of them are provided in the womb with proper
nourishment, which continues till that which is born can get food for
itself, as is the case with worms and birds; and as to those which bring
forth their young alive, they have the means for their subsistence for a
certain time within themselves, namely milk. It is evident then that we
may conclude of those things that are, that plants are created for the
sake of animals, and animals for the sake of men; the tame for our use
and provision; the wild, at least the greater part, for our provision
also, or for some other advantageous purpose, as furnishing us with
clothes, and the like. As nature therefore makes nothing either
imperfect or in vain, it necessarily follows that she has made all these
things for men: for which reason what we gain in war is in a certain
degree a natural acquisition; for hunting is a part of it, which it is
necessary for us to employ against wild beasts; and those men who being
intended by nature for slavery are unwilling to submit to it, on which
occasion such a. war is by nature just: that species of acquisition then
only which is according to nature is part of economy; and this ought to
be at hand, or if not, immediately procured, namely, what is necessary
to be kept in store to live upon, and which are useful as well for the
state as the family. And true riches seem to consist in these; and the
acquisition of those possessions which are necessary for a happy life is
not infinite; though Solon says otherwise in this verse:
"No bounds to riches can be fixed for man;"
for they may be fixed as in other arts; for the instruments of no art
whatsoever are infinite, either in their number or their magnitude; but
riches are a number of instruments in domestic and civil economy; it is
therefore evident that the acquisition of certain things according
to nature is a part both of domestic and civil economy, and for what
reason.
CHAPTER IX
There is also another species of acquisition which they [1257a]
particularly call pecuniary, and with great propriety; and by this
indeed it seems that there are no bounds to riches and wealth. Now many
persons suppose, from their near relation to each other, that this is
one and the same with that we have just mentioned, but it is not the
same as that, though not very different; one of these is natural, the
other is not, but rather owing to some art and skill; we will enter into
a particular examination of this subject. The uses of every possession
are two, both dependent upon the thing itself, but not in the same
manner, the one supposing an inseparable connection with it, the other
not; as a shoe, for instance, which may be either worn, or exchanged
for something else, both these are the uses of the shoe; for he who
exchanges a shoe with some man who wants one, for money or provisions,
uses the shoe as a shoe, but not according to the original intention,
for shoes were not at first made to be exchanged. The same thing holds
true of all other possessions; for barter, in general, had its original
beginning in nature, some men having a surplus, others too little of
what was necessary for them: hence it is evident, that the selling
provisions for money is not according to the natural use of things; for
they were obliged to use barter for those things which they wanted; but
it is plain that barter could have no place in the first, that is to
say, in family society; but must have begun when the number of those
who composed the community was enlarged: for the first of these had all
things in common; but when they came to be separated they were obliged
to exchange with each other many different things which both parties
wanted. Which custom of barter is still preserved amongst many barbarous