Ch. xiii. among the Greeks. 239 



"a 



in such a republic the supernumeraries would be 

 altogether destitute, because the lands, being re- 

 duced to equal and as it were elementary parts, 

 would be incapable of further partition.* 



He then remarks that it is necessary in all cases 

 to regulate the proportion of children, that they 

 may not exceed the proper number. In doing 

 this, deaths and barrenness are of course to be 

 taken into consideration. But if, as in the gene- 

 rality of states, every person be left free to have 

 as many children as he pleases, the necessary 

 consequence must be poverty; and poverty is the 

 mother of villany and sedition. On this account 

 Pheidon of Corinth, one of the most ancient 

 writers on the subject of politics, introduced a 

 regulation directly the reverse of Plato's, and 

 limited population without equalizing posses- 

 sions.f 



Speaking afterwards of Phaleas of Chalcedon, 

 who proposed, as a most salutary institution, to 

 equalize wealth among the citizens, he adverts 

 again to Plato's regulations respecting property ; 

 and observes that those who would thus regulate 

 the extent of fortunes, ought not to be ignorant 

 that it is absolutely necessary at the same time 

 to regulate the number of children. For if chil- 



'»' 



* De Repub. lib. ii. c. vi. Gillies's Aristot. vol. ii. b. ii. p. 87. 

 For the convenience of those who may not choose the trouble of 

 consulting the original, I refer at the same time to Gillies's trans- 

 lation ; but some passages he has wholly omitted, and of others 

 he has not given the literal sense, his object being a free version. 



t Dc Repub. lib. ii. c. vii. Gillies's Aristot. vol. ii. b. ii. p. 87. 



