And clearly
property should be in their hands, since the husbandmen will of
necessity be slaves or barbarian Perioeci.
Of the classes enumerated there remain only the priests, and the
manner in which their office is to be regulated is obvious. No
husbandman or mechanic should be appointed to it; for the Gods
should receive honor from the citizens only. Now since the body of the
citizen is divided into two classes, the warriors and the
councillors and it is beseeming that the worship of the Gods should be
duly performed, and also a rest provided in their service for those
who from age have given up active life, to the old men of these two
classes should be assigned the duties of the priesthood.
We have shown what are the necessary conditions, and what the
parts of a state: husbandmen, craftsmen, and laborers of an kinds
are necessary to the existence of states, but the parts of the state
are the warriors and councillors. And these are distinguished
severally from one another, the distinction being in some cases
permanent, in others not.
X
It is not a new or recent discovery of political philosophers that
the state ought to be divided into classes, and that the warriors
should be separated from the husbandmen. The system has continued in
Egypt and in Crete to this day, and was established, as tradition
says, by a law of Sesostris in Egypt and of Minos in Crete.
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