To those who claim to be
masters of the government on the ground of their virtue or their
wealth, the many might fairly answer that they themselves are often
better and richer than the few- I do not say individually, but
collectively. And another ingenious objection which is sometimes put
forward may be met in a similar manner. Some persons doubt whether the
legislator who desires to make the justest laws ought to legislate
with a view to the good of the higher classes or of the many, when the
case which we have mentioned occurs. Now what is just or right is to
be interpreted in the sense of 'what is equal'; and that which is
right in the sense of being equal is to be considered with reference
to the advantage of the state, and the common good of the citizens.
And a citizen is one who shares in governing and being governed. He
differs under different forms of government, but in the best state
he is one who is able and willing to be governed and to govern with
a view to the life of virtue.
If, however, there be some one person, or more than one, although
not enough to make up the full complement of a state, whose virtue
is so pre-eminent that the virtues or the political capacity of all
the rest admit of no comparison with his or theirs, he or they can
be no longer regarded as part of a state; for justice will not be done
to the superior, if he is reckoned only as the equal of those who
are so far inferior to him in virtue and in political capacity.
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