XI
We have now to inquire what is the best constitution for most
states, and the best life for most men, neither assuming a standard of
virtue which is above ordinary persons, nor an education which is
exceptionally favored by nature and circumstances, nor yet an ideal
state which is an aspiration only, but having regard to the life in
which the majority are able to share, and to the form of government
which states in general can attain. As to those aristocracies, as they
are called, of which we were just now speaking, they either lie beyond
the possibilities of the greater number of states, or they approximate
to the so-called constitutional government, and therefore need no
separate discussion. And in fact the conclusion at which we arrive
respecting all these forms rests upon the same grounds. For if what
was said in the Ethics is true, that the happy life is the life
according to virtue lived without impediment, and that virtue is a
mean, then the life which is in a mean, and in a mean attainable by
every one, must be the best. And the same the same principles of
virtue and vice are characteristic of cities and of constitutions; for
the constitution is in a figure the life of the city.
Now in all states there are three elements: one class is very
rich, another very poor, and a third in a mean.
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