The latter should be entrusted chiefly or only to members of the
governing class.
IX
There are three qualifications required in those who have to fill
the highest offices- (1) first of all, loyalty to the established
constitution; (2) the greatest administrative capacity; (3) virtue and
justice of the kind proper to each form of government; for, if what is
just is not the same in all governments, the quality of justice must
also differ. There may be a doubt, however, when all these qualities
do not meet in the same person, how the selection is to be made;
suppose, for example, a good general is a bad man and not a friend
to the constitution, and another man is loyal and just, which should
we choose? In making the election ought we not to consider two points?
what qualities are common, and what are rare. Thus in the choice of
a general, we should regard his skill rather than his virtue; for
few have military skill, but many have virtue. In any office of
trust or stewardship, on the other hand, the opposite rule should be
observed; for more virtue than ordinary is required in the holder of
such an office, but the necessary knowledge is of a sort which all men
possess.
It may, however, be asked what a man wants with virtue if he have
political ability and is loyal, since these two qualities alone will
make him do what is for the public interest.
Pages:
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235