Hence, as is evident, there are different kinds of citizens; and
he is a citizen in the highest sense who shares in the honors of the
state. Compare Homer's words, 'like some dishonored stranger'; he
who is excluded from the honors of the state is no better than an
alien. But when his exclusion is concealed, then the object is that
the privileged class may deceive their fellow inhabitants.
As to the question whether the virtue of the good man is the same as
that of the good citizen, the considerations already adduced prove that
in some states the good man and the good citizen are the same, and in
others different. When they are the same it is not every citizen who
is a good man, but only the statesman and those who have or may have,
alone or in conjunction with others, the conduct of public affairs.
VI
Having determined these questions, we have next to consider
whether there is only one form of government or many, and if many,
what they are, and how many, and what are the differences between
them.
A constitution is the arrangement of magistracies in a state,
especially of the highest of all. The government is everywhere
sovereign in the state, and the constitution is in fact the
government. For example, in democracies the people are supreme, but in
oligarchies, the few; and, therefore, we say that these two forms of
government also are different: and so in other cases.
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