Politics   

hand, require only that measure of virtue which is proper to each of
them. Clearly, then, moral virtue belongs to all of them; but the
temperance of a man and of a woman, or the courage and justice of a
man and of a woman, are not, as Socrates maintained, the same; the
courage of a man is shown in commanding, of a woman in obeying. And
this holds of all other virtues, as will be more clearly seen if we
look at them in detail, for those who say generally that virtue
consists in a good disposition of the soul, or in doing rightly, or
the like, only deceive themselves. Far better than such definitions is
their mode of speaking, who, like Gorgias, enumerate the virtues. All
classes must be deemed to have their special attributes; as the poet
says of women,
"Silence is a woman's glory, "
but this is not equally the glory of man. The child is imperfect, and
therefore obviously his virtue is not relative to himself alone, but
to the perfect man and to his teacher, and in like manner the virtue
of the slave is relative to a master. Now we determined that a slave
is useful for the wants of life, and therefore he will obviously
require only so much virtue as will prevent him from failing in his
duty through cowardice or lack of self-control. Some one will ask
whether, if what we are saying is true, virtue will not be required
also in the artisans, for they often fail in their work through the
lack of self control? But is there not a great difference in the two
cases? For the slave shares in his master's life; the artisan is less
closely connected with him, and only attains excellence in proportion
as he becomes a slave. The meaner sort of mechanic has a special and
separate slavery; and whereas the slave exists by nature, not so the
shoemaker or other artisan. It is manifest, then, that the master
ought to be the source of such excellence in the slave, and not a mere
possessor of the art of mastership which trains the slave in his
duties. Wherefore they are mistaken who forbid us to converse with
slaves and say that we should employ command only, for slaves stand
even more in need of admonition than children.
So much for this subject; the relations of husband and wife, parent
and child, their several virtues, what in their intercourse with one
another is good, and what is evil, and how we may pursue the good and
good and escape the evil, will have to be discussed when we speak of
the different forms of government. For, inasmuch as every family is a
part of a state, and these relationships are the parts of a family,
and the virtue of the part must have regard to the virtue of the
whole, women and children must be trained by education with an eye to
the constitution, if the virtues of either of them are supposed to
make any difference in the virtues of the state. And they must make a
difference: for the children grow up to be citizens, and half the free
persons in a state are women.
Of these matters, enough has been said; of what remains, let us speak
at another time. Regarding, then, our present inquiry as complete, we
will make a new beginning. And, first, let us examine the various
theories of a perfect state.
Politics
By Aristotle
Written 350 B.C.E Part I
Our urpose is to consider what form of political community is best of
all for those who are most able to realize their ideal of life. We
must therefore examine not only this but other constitutions, both
such as actually exist in well-governed states, and any theoretical
forms which are held in esteem; that what is good and useful may be
brought to light. And let no one suppose that in seeking for something
beyond them we are anxious to make a sophistical display at any cost;
we only undertake this inquiry because all the constitutions with
which we are acquainted are faulty.
We will begin with the natural beginning of the subject. Three
alternatives are conceivable: The members of a state must either have
(1) all things or (2) nothing in common, or (3) some things in common