For that some should rule and others be ruled
is a thing not only necessary, but expedient; from the hour of their
birth, some are marked out for subjection, others for rule.
And there are many kinds both of rulers and subjects (and that
rule is the better which is exercised over better subjects- for
example, to rule over men is better than to rule over wild beasts; for
the work is better which is executed by better workmen, and where
one man rules and another is ruled, they may be said to have a
work); for in all things which form a composite whole and which are
made up of parts, whether continuous or discrete, a distinction
between the ruling and the subject element comes to fight. Such a
duality exists in living creatures, but not in them only; it
originates in the constitution of the universe; even in things which
have no life there is a ruling principle, as in a musical mode. But we
are wandering from the subject. We will therefore restrict ourselves
to the living creature, which, in the first place, consists of soul
and body: and of these two, the one is by nature the ruler, and the
other the subject. But then we must look for the intentions of
nature in things which retain their nature, and not in things which
are corrupted. And therefore we must study the man who is in the
most perfect state both of body and soul, for in him we shall see
the true relation of the two; although in bad or corrupted natures the
body will often appear to rule over the soul, because they are in an
evil and unnatural condition.
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