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[2] Concord then refers to practical ends, and practical ends of importance, and able to be realized by both or all the parties: for instance, there is concord in the state when the citizens unanimously decree that the offices of state shall be elective, or that an alliance shall be made with Sparta, or that Pittacus shall be dictator （when Pittacus was himself willing to be dictator1）. When each of two persons wishes himself to rule, like the rivals2 in the Phoenissae,3 there is discord; since men are not of one mind merely when each thinks the same thing （whatever this may be） , but when each thinks the same thing in relation to the same person: for instance, when both the common people and the upper classes wish that the best people shall rule; for only so can all parties get what they desire.

Concord appears therefore to mean friendship between citizens, which indeed is the ordinary use of the term; for it refers to the interests and concerns of life.

1 Pittacus was elected dictator of Mitylene early in the sixth century B.C.; he ruled for fourteen years, and then laid down his office. All the citizens wished him to continue, but this was not strictly unanimity or Concord, since there was one dissentient, Pittacus himself.

2 Eteocles and Polyneices.

3 Eur. Phoen. 558 ff.

Aristotle in 23 Volumes, Vol. 19, translated by H. Rackham. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1934.

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