respective communities; upon which account when there
is any acknowledged difference in the power of the
citizens, the reason upon which the ostracism is founded
will be politically just; but it is better for the
legislator so to establish his state at the beginning
as not to want this remedy: but if in course of
time such an inconvenience should arise, to endeavour
to amend it by some such correction. Not that
this was the use it was put to: for many did not
regard the benefit of their respective communities,
but made the ostracism a weapon in the hand of sedition.
It is evident, then, that in corrupt governments it
is partly just and useful to the individual, though
probably it is as clear that it is not entirely just:
for in a well-governed state there may be great doubts
about the use of it, not on account of the pre-eminence
which one may have in strength, riches, or connection:
but when the pre-eminence is virtue, what then is
to be done? for it seems not right to turn out and
banish such a one; neither does it seem right to govern
him, for that would be like desiring to share the power
with Jupiter and to govern him: nothing then
remains but what indeed seems natural, and that is
for all persons quietly to submit to the government
of those who are thus eminently virtuous, and let them
be perpetually kings in the separate states.
CHAPTER XIV
What has been now said, it seems proper to change
our subject and to inquire into the nature of monarchies;
for we have already admitted them to be one of those
species of government which are properly founded.
And here let us consider whether a kingly government
is proper for a city or a country whose principal
object is the happiness of the inhabitants, or rather
some other. But let us first determine whether
this is of one kind only, or more; [1285a] and it is
easy to know that it consists of many different species,
and that the forms of government are not the same
in all: for at Sparta the kingly power seems
chiefly regulated by the laws; for it is not supreme
in all circumstances; but when the king quits the
territories of the state he is their general in war;
and all religious affairs are entrusted to him:
indeed the kingly power with them is chiefly that of
a general who cannot be called to an account for his
conduct, and whose command is for life: for he
has not the power of life and death, except as a general;
as they frequently had in their expeditions by martial
law, which we learn from Homer; for when Agamemnon
is affronted in council, he restrains his resentment,
but when he is in the field and armed with this power,
he tells the Greeks:
“Whoe’er I know shall shun th’
impending fight, To dogs and vultures soon shall
be a prey; For death is mine. . . .”
Copyrights
Politics: A Treatise on Government from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.
