"Ethics," "Politics," "Economics," "Poetics," and "Rhetoric"-exhibit the extent of his intellectual empire. Besides the foregoing there has recently been brought to light a treatise on "The Constitution of Athens."

CONSIDERATIONS ON THE STATE.

IT is evident that a state is not a mere community of place; nor is it established that men may be safe from injury, and maintain an interchange of good offices. All these things, indeed, must take place where there is a state, and yet they may all exist and there be no state. A state, then, may be defined to be a society of people joining together with their families and children to live happily, enjoying a life of thorough independence.

In every state the people are divided into three kinds: the very rich, the very poor, and, thirdly, those who are between them. Since, then, it is universally acknowledged that the mean is best, it is evident that even in respect to fortune, a middle state is to be preferred; for that state is most likely to submit to reason. For those who are very handsome, or very strong, or very noble, or, on the other hand, those who are very poor, or very weak, or very mean, are with difficulty induced to obey reason. And this because the one class is supercilious, and "sin as it were with a cart-rope," the other rascally and mean; and the crimes of each arise respectively from insolence and villany.

It is evident that the most perfect political community is that which is administered by the middle classes, and that those states are best carried on in which these are the majority and outweigh both the other classes; and if that cannot be, at least when they overbalance each separate. For, being thrown into the balance, it will prevent either excess from predominating. Wherefore it is the greatest happiness to possess a moderate and competent fortune; since, where some possess too much, and others nothing at all, the government must be either an extreme democracy or else a pure oligarchy, or, from the excesses of both, a tyranny; for this springs from a headstrong democracy or oligarchy, but far more seldom

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when the members of the community are nearly on an equality with each other.

It is clear that the state where the middle ranks predominate is the best, for it alone is free from seditious movements. Where such a state is large, there are fewer seditions and insurrections to disturb the peace; and for this reason extensive states are more peaceful internally, as the middle ranks are numerous. In small states it is easy to pass to the two extremes, so as to have scarcely any middle ranks remaining; but all are either very poor or very rich.

The supreme power must necessarily be in the hands of one person, or of a few, or of the many. When the one, the few, or the many direct their whole efforts for the common good, such states must be well governed; but when the advantage of the one, the few, or the many is alone regarded, a change for the worse must be expected.

A pretension to offices of state ought to be founded on those qualifications, which are part of itself. And for this reason, men of birth, independence, and fortune are right in contending with each other for office; for those who hold offices of state ought to be persons of independence and property. A state should no more consist entirely of poor men than it ought entirely of slaves. But though such persons are requisite, it is evident that there must also be justice and military valor, for without justice and valor no state can be maintained; just as without the former class a state cannot exist, and without the latter it cannot be well governed.

The free-born and men of high birth will dispute the point with each other as being nearly on an equality; for citizens that are well-born have a right to more respect than the ignoble. Honorable descent is in all nations greatly esteemed; besides, it is to be expected that the children of men of worth will be like their fathers, for nobility is the virtue of a family.

There are three qualifications which ought to be possessed by a man who aspires to fill the high offices of state; first, he must be well disposed, and prepared to support the established constitution of his country; next, he ought to have a special aptitude for the office which he fills; and, thirdly, he should

have the kind of virtue and love of justice which suits the particular state in which he lives.

In states that are well blended particular care ought, above all things, to be taken that nothing be done contrary to law; and this should be chiefly looked to in matters of small moment: for small violations of law advance by stealthy steps, in the same way as, in a domestic establishment, trifling expenses, if often repeated, consume a man's whole estate.

For there is no free state where the laws do not rule supreme; for the law ought to be above all.

Democracies are chiefly subject to revolutions from the dishonest conduct of demagogues. For partly by lodging informations against men of property, and partly by rousing the common people against them, they induce them to unite; for a common fear will make the greatest enemies to join together.

When a democracy is controlled by fixed laws, a demagogue has no power, but the best citizens fill the offices of state when the laws are not supreme, there demagogues are found. For the people act like a king, being one body; for the many are supreme, not as individuals, but as a whole.

The worst form of democracy is where every citizen has a share in the administration: few states can endure such a form, nor can it exist for any length of time unless it is well supported by laws and purity of manners.

The only stable state is that where every one possesses an equality in the eye of the law, according to his merit, and enjoys his own unmolested.

THE TYRANT.

THE defection of monarchy is tyranny; for both are monarchies, but the difference between them is very marked: for a tyrant thinks only of his own interests, while a king attends to those of his subjects. For he is not a king who is not uncontrolled, and who is not possessed of all kinds of goods, for such a one stands in need of nothing more; therefore he does not require to be looking after his own interests, but devotes himself to his subjects.

A tyrant pursues his own peculiar good, and it is more manifest for this very reason, that tyranny is the worst form of government, for that is worst which is opposite to the best.

TO VIRTUE.

HERMIAS, who was originally a slave, studied under Plato, and won the friendship of Aristotle. The latter, after Plato's death, went to the court of his friend, who was then lord or tyrant of Atarna. After the death of Hermias, Aristotle married his niece. The following tribute to his friend testifies the philosopher's poetic power as well as his affection.

O SOUGHT with toil and mortal strife,

By those of human birth,

Virtue, thou noblest end of life,

Thou goodliest gain on earth!

Thee, Maid, to win, our youth would bear,
Unwearied, fiery pains; and dare

Death for thy beauty's worth;

So bright thy proffered honors shine,
Like clusters of a fruit divine.

Sweeter than slumber's boasted joys,
And more desired than gold,
Dearer than nature's dearest ties;
For thee those heroes old,
Herculean son of highest Jove,

And the twin birth of Leda, strove

By perils manifold:

Great Peleus' son, with like desire,

And Ajax sought the Stygian fire.

The bard shall crown with lasting lay,
And aye immortal make
Atarna's sovereign, 'reft of day

For thy dear beauty's sake:
Him, therefore, the recording Nine
In songs extol to heights divine,
And every chord awake;
Promoting still, with reverence due,
The meed of Friendship tried and true.

N Rome the period following the death of
Augustus was unfavorable to the exercise of
genius or the cultivation of talent. Hitherto
the study of literature had been pursued with
an ardor almost unnatural. Every Greek author

of eminence had been imitated; and just when a sense of literary greatness had taken possession of the Roman people, Augustus was politic enough to become the patron of letters. He was thus able to divert men's minds from speculating on political changes and to employ their talents usefully. Such patronage was a powerful stimulus to literary exertion; but when that was withdrawn, and Greek resources failed, inventive faculty was wanting, and the lassitude ensuing from excessive enthusiasm fell on prose and poetry alike. National vices had benumbed imaginative power and taste for true art. The victories of Lucullus and later conquerors in Asia had opened the way for the introduction of Eastern luxuries, and with these came vices which Augustus had tried, but failed to suppress. The gloomy Tiberius, though a learned man, was not a patron of literature. Yet the influence of the Greek teachers continued to affect the minds of the Romans. There was a curious temporary revival of interest in literature under Nero, when the emperor himself was ambitious of fame as a poet and artist. But in the close atmosphere of tyranny higher literature was stifled.

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