But since no such comparison
can be made, it is evident that there is good reason why in politics
men do not ground their claim to office on every sort of inequality
any more than in the arts. For if some be slow, and others swift, that
is no reason why the one should have little and the others much; it is
in gymnastics contests that such excellence is rewarded. Whereas the
rival claims of candidates for office can only be based on the
possession of elements which enter into the composition of a state.
And therefore the noble, or free-born, or rich, may with good reason
claim office; for holders of offices must be freemen and taxpayers:
a state can be no more composed entirely of poor men than entirely
of slaves. But if wealth and freedom are necessary elements, justice
and valor are equally so; for without the former qualities a state
cannot exist at all, without the latter not well.
XIII
If the existence of the state is alone to be considered, then it
would seem that all, or some at least, of these claims are just;
but, if we take into account a good life, then, as I have already
said, education and virtue have superior claims. As, however, those
who are equal in one thing ought not to have an equal share in all,
nor those who are unequal in one thing to have an unequal share in
all, it is certain that all forms of government which rest on either
of these principles are perversions.
Pages:
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133