This, however, is not a very serious difficulty; we need only remark
that the word 'state' is ambiguous.
It is further asked: When are men, living in the same place, to be
regarded as a single city- what is the limit? Certainly not the wall
of the city, for you might surround all Peloponnesus with a wall. Like
this, we may say, is Babylon, and every city that has the compass of a
nation rather than a city; Babylon, they say, had been taken for three
days before some part of the inhabitants became aware of the fact.
This difficulty may, however, with advantage be deferred to another
occasion; the statesman has to consider the size of the state, and
whether it should consist of more than one nation or not.
Again, shall we say that while the race of inhabitants, as well as
their place of abode, remain the same, the city is also the same,
although the citizens are always dying and being born, as we call
rivers and fountains the same, although the water is always flowing
away and coming again Or shall we say that the generations of men,
like the rivers, are the same, but that the state changes? For,
since the state is a partnership, and is a partnership of citizens
in a constitution, when the form of government changes, and becomes
different, then it may be supposed that the state is no longer the
same, just as a tragic differs from a comic chorus, although the
members of both may be identical.
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