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1278b]
[1]
Is the
goodness that makes a good man to be deemed the same as that which makes a
worthy citizen, or different? is now clear from what has been said in one form
of state the good man and the good citizen are the same, but in another they are
different, and also in the former case it is not every citizen but only the
statesman, the man who controls or is competent to control, singly or with
colleagues, the administration of the commonwealth, that is essentially also a
good man.
And since these points have been determined, the next question
to be considered is whether we are to lay it down that there is only one form of
constitution or several, and if several, what they are and how many and what are
the differences between them. Now a constitution is the ordering of a state in
respect of its various magistracies, and especially the magistracy that is
supreme over all matters. For the government is everywhere supreme over the
state and the constitution is the government. I mean that in democratic states
for example the people are supreme, but in oligarchies on the contrary the few
are; and we say that they have a different constitution. And we shall use the
same language about the other forms of government also.
We have therefore to
determine first the fundamental points, what is the object for which a state
exists and how many different kinds of system there are for governing mankind
and for controlling the common life.
Now it has
been said in our first discourses,
1 in which we determined the principles concerning household
management and the control of slaves, that man is by nature a political
animal;
[20]
and so even when men have
no need of assistance from each other they none the less desire to live
together. At the same time they are
also brought together by common interest, so far as each achieves a share of the
good life. The good life then is the chief aim of society, both collectively for
all its members and individually; but they also come together and maintain the
political partnership for the sake of life merely, for doubtless there is some
element of value contained even in the mere state of being alive, provided that
there is not too great an excess on the side of the hardships of life, and it is
clear that the mass of mankind cling to life at the cost of enduring much
suffering, which shows that life contains some measure of well-being and of
sweetness in its essential nature.
And again, the several recognized varieties
of government can easily be defined; in fact we frequently discuss them in our
external discourses.
2 The authority of a
master over a slave, although in truth when both master and slave are designed
by nature for their positions their interests are the same, nevertheless governs
in the greater degree with a view to the interest of the master, but
incidentally with a view to that of the slave, for if the slave deteriorates the
position of the master cannot be saved from injury. Authority over children and wife [and over the
whole household, which we call the art of household management
3] is exercised either
in the interest of those ruled or for some common interest of both
parties,—essentially, in the interest of the ruled, as we see that the
other arts also,