which reason they will very often appear ready for
every commation and sedition; for the wickedness of
mankind is insatiable. For though at first
two oboli might be sufficient, yet when once it is
become customary, they continually want something
more, until they set no limits to their expectations;
for it is the nature of our desires to be boundless,
and many live only to gratify them. But for this
purpose the first object is, not so much to establish
an equality of fortune, as to prevent those who are
of a good disposition from desiring more than their
own, and those who are of a bad one from being able
to acquire it; and this may be done if they are kept
in an inferior station, and not exposed to injustice.
Nor has he treated well the equality of goods, for
he has extended his regulation only to land; whereas
a man’s substance consists not only in this,
but also in slaves, cattle, money, and all that variety
of things which fall under the name of chattels; now
there must be either an equality established in all
these, or some certain rule, or they must be left entirely
at large. It appears too by his laws, that he
intends to establish only a small state, as all the
artificers are to belong to the public, and add nothing
to the complement of citizens; but if all those who
are to be employed in public works are to be the slaves
of the public, it should be done in the same manner
as it is at Epidamnum, and as Diophantus formerly
regulated it at Athens. From these particulars
any one may nearly judge whether Phaleas’s community
is well or ill established.
CHAPTER VIII
Hippodamus, the son of Euruphon a Milesian, contrived
the art of laying out towns, and separated the Pireus.
This man was in other respects too eager after notice,
and seemed to many to live in a very affected manner,
with his flowing locks and his expensive ornaments,
and a coarse warm vest which he wore, not only in the
winter, but also in the hot weather. As he was
very desirous of the character of a universal scholar,
he was the first who, not being actually engaged in
the management of public affairs, sat himself to inquire
what sort of government was best; and he planned a
state, consisting of ten thousand persons, divided
into three parts, one consisting of artisans, another
of husbandmen, and the third of soldiers; he also
divided the lands into three parts, and allotted one
to sacred purposes, another to the public, and the
third to individuals. The first of these was
to supply what was necessary for the established worship
of the gods; the second was to be allotted to the support
of the soldiery; and the third was to be the property
of the husbandman. He thought also that there
need only be three sorts of laws, corresponding to
the three sorts of actions which can be brought, namely,
for assault, trespasses, or death. He ordered
also that there should be a particular court of appeal,
into which all causes might be removed which were
Copyrights
Politics: A Treatise on Government from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.
