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prefent at thofe conferences; and engaged 
in converfation with Socrates. To fup- 
ply the developments which have net been 
given to us, we mult ftudy Ariftotle’s de- 
finitions, the principles which he frequent- 
ly brings back to our view, and his con- 
clufions. 
In his fir% book, Ariftotle goes back to 
the elements of civil focieties. His prin- 
cipal object is government ; and he be- 
flows only a glance on the origin of focie- 
ties. 
Analyfis of the firft Book. 
A political lociety isa partnerfliip efta- 
blifhed with a view to fome advantage ; 
for, what is confidered as fuch, is the ab- 
ject of men’s ations, and, more efpecially, 
of that moft excellent of focieties. which 
comprehends all the fubordinate afflocia- 
tions. Its firft elements are thofe without 
which it cannot exift, and which nature has 
deftined to be united—man aad woman. 
A fecond affociation refults from chofe na- 
tural caules in confequence of which there 
are fome beings who command, and others 
who obey. The Society i.ftituted by 
nature forms firft a family ; that of feve- 
ral families forms a village compofed of 
the defcendents of one family, who are, as 
it were, a colony from it. 
This explains why political focieties 
were originally governed by kings, and 
why feveral ftates are ftill fo governed : 
thofe itates grew from the union of politi- 
cal focieties which were fubje& to the mo- 
narchic government. Here alfo we difco- 
ver the origin of the univerlal opinion that 
the monarchic government is. eftabiifhed 
among the gods: “tis becaufe that form 
at are aprewaited throughout the whole 
world. Men think themfelves created 
aiter the likeneis of the gods; and there- 
fore fuppofe that they have a great con- 
formity to them in their mode of life. 
‘From the intimate union of  feveral 
villages rifles a commonwealth, which is 
able to fupply its ewn wants, and whence 
relults the completion of the happinefs of 
fociety. Is itthe workef nature? Yes, 
if the fubordinate aflcciations are fo: 
more perfect than they, it is the end to 
which the ey all aim. 
Naturally tending to fuch silos tania 
man fs. the.mofb}fociable of animals ; 3 as 
is evident particularly from the gift of 
fpeech, with which he has been endowed 
by Nature, who never does any thing in 
vain. Other animais exprefs by inarticu- 
late founds the fenfations of pleafure and 
pain’ men make known by {peech what is 
ufeful to them or hurtful, what is ju& or 
unjuft ; and itis principally from the mu- 
Bitaubé onthe Policy of the Ancicuts. 
tual participation of each other? s. fenti-. 
ments refpeéting juftice and injuitice, that. 
the foundations are formed, on which reft 
a family, a commonwealth. 
To feel no need of fociety, one mutt. 
be either a favage beaft or a god. The 
man who delights in difcord bas been de-, 
feribed by Homer as ‘ a ftranger to law 
or tribe or family’’—a defcription which. 
fuits an ifolated being, more favage than. 
the birds of prey. Nature prompts men 
to aflociate with each other; and the fir 
individual who founded a civil fociety was. 
the author of the greateft bleffings. Man,’ 
in his .ftate of perfection, is the beft of 
animals ; deftitute of laws, he is the, 
worft, if armed injuftice be the moft mif- 
chievous of evils :—and nature has armed 
him with ftrength and intellect, which he 
may pervert to the worft of paroles. 
In the domeftic government, we find 
three diftinét powers, that of the hufband, 
that of the father, and that of the mafter. — 
Subhiftence being requifite for the fami- 
ly, the means of procuring it confitute 
the domeftic economy. Every art has its 
inftruments, animate or inanimate: the 
flave is one of the infiruments of the ceco- 
nomic art. What is more excellent go- 
verns that which is inferior in excellence, 
as man commands the brute beaft. In 
every action performed by men in a body, 
command is exerciled, and obedience 
paid, with a view to the common advan- 
tage ; even in beings inanimate, there ex- 
iis a power which maintains their harmo- 
ny. The flave is he who is nothing of 
himfelf, who by-nature is not his own 
matter, but the property of another. 
Thofe who are as far inferior to others as 
the body is to the foul, are flaves by nature, 
and it is advantageous to them to be (go> 
verned. 
There are two fpecies of fervitude, the 
one natural, the other an effect of that 
Die (be, convention by which captives in 
war become the property of the conqueror. 
Is the flave capable of virtue? Although 
many people abfolutely declare for the ne- 
gative, he can attain a certain mediocrity 
in virtue, juft fufficient to prevent him | 
trom abandoning his labors through in- 
temperance or timidity. 
The mafterly or defpotic _government 
and the civil government are not, as fome 
perfons | imagine; of the fame nature: the 
former is calculated for flaves, the latter 
for freemen. The domcftic government 
is that of a fingle individual ;. the civil go- 
vernment is cftablifhed over men who any 
equal and tree. 
The choice of food, and the various 
March he 
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