We may argue on grounds of
reason, and the same result will follow. For law is order, and good
law is good order; but a very great multitude cannot be orderly: to
introduce order into the unlimited is the work of a divine power- of
such a power as holds together the universe. Beauty is realized in
number and magnitude, and the state which combines magnitude with good
order must necessarily be the most beautiful. To the size of states
there is a limit, as there is to other things, plants, animals,
implements; for none of these retain their natural power when they are
too large or too small, but they either wholly lose their nature, or
are spoiled. For example, a ship which is only a span long will not be
a ship at all, nor a ship a quarter of a mile long; yet there may be a
ship of a certain size, either too large or too small, which will
still be a ship, but bad for sailing. In like manner a state when
composed of too few is not, as a state ought to be, self-sufficing;
when of too many, though self-sufficing in all mere necessaries, as
a nation may be, it is not a state, being almost incapable of
constitutional government. For who can be the general of such a vast
multitude, or who the herald, unless he have the voice of a Stentor?
A state, then, only begins to exist when it has attained a
population sufficient for a good life in the political community: it
may indeed, if it somewhat exceed this number, be a greater state.
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