From these considerations may be gathered the answer to the
question, whether the virtue of the good man is the same as that of
the good citizen, or different, and how far the same, and how far
different.
V
There still remains one more question about the citizen: Is he
only a true citizen who has a share of office, or is the mechanic to
be included? If they who hold no office are to be deemed citizens, not
every citizen can have this virtue of ruling and obeying; for this man
is a citizen And if none of the lower class are citizens, in which
part of the state are they to be placed? For they are not resident
aliens, and they are not foreigners. May we not reply, that as far
as this objection goes there is no more absurdity in excluding them
than in excluding slaves and freedmen from any of the
above-mentioned classes? It must be admitted that we cannot consider
all those to be citizens who are necessary to the existence of the
state; for example, children are not citizen equally with grown-up
men, who are citizens absolutely, but children, not being grown up,
are only citizens on a certain assumption. Nay, in ancient times,
and among some nations the artisan class were slaves or foreigners,
and therefore the majority of them are so now. The best form of
state will not admit them to citizenship; but if they are admitted,
then our definition of the virtue of a citizen will not apply to every
citizen nor to every free man as such, but only to those who are freed
from necessary services.
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