But things
are defined by their working and power; and we ought not to say that
they are the same when they no longer have their proper quality, but
only that they have the same name. The proof that the state is a
creation of nature and prior to the individual is that the individual,
when isolated, is not self-sufficing; and therefore he is like a
part in relation to the whole. But he who is unable to live in
society, or who has no need because he is sufficient for himself, must
be either a beast or a god: he is no part of a state. A social
instinct is implanted in all men by nature, and yet he who first
founded the state was the greatest of benefactors. For man, when
perfected, is the best of animals, but, when separated from law and
justice, he is the worst of all; since armed injustice is the more
dangerous, and he is equipped at birth with arms, meant to be used
by intelligence and virtue, which he may use for the worst ends.
Wherefore, if he have not virtue, he is the most unholy and the most
savage of animals, and the most full of lust and gluttony. But justice
is the bond of men in states, for the administration of justice, which
is the determination of what is just, is the principle of order in
political society.
III
Seeing then that the state is made up of households, before speaking
of the state we must speak of the management of the household.
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