either seek after the highest type of perfection, for which many conditions, hard of attainment, are necessary; or else, they take some real pattern, such as the Lacedæmonian, and propose to substitute it for every existing constitution. (55) In resolving this problem, Aristotle enters into a detailed investigation of the positive characteristics of the several forms of government-an inductive and purely scientific analysis, which constitutes the most valuable portion of his work. Having completed this survey of positive phenomena, he returns, at the beginning of the seventh book, to his ideal problem. Before commencing the solution, he lays it down that certain hypothetical conditions, respecting the matter proper to the politician, must be assumed. These may be taken according to what seems desirable, but they must, nevertheless, be within the limits of possibility.(56) He then proceeds to enumerate, first, the physical conditions—as population, territory, vicinity to sea, race of inhabitants, &c., and afterwards the political conditions, as to constitution and legislation, including a state education, which are requisite for the best form of government. This inquiry, by which the scientific and precise philosopher at times manifestly feels himself embarrassed, (57) and from which he derives few satisfactory results, concludes the

(55) As to a constitution suited to an average state, and not requiring difficult and rare conditions, see likewise iv. 11. ad init. On the relation οἱ ἀριστοκρατία and ὀλιγαρχία, according to Aristotle's views, see iii. 7, iv. 2 ; and as to the relation of Barideía to the best government, iii. 15, 16.

(56) διὸ δεῖ πολλὰ προϋποτεθεῖσθαι καθάπερ εὐχομένους, εἶναι μέντοι μηθὲν τόυτων ἀδύνατον, vii. 4. Lower down he says, τῷ πολιτικῷ καὶ τῷ νομοθέτῃ δεῖ τὴν οἰκείαν ὕλην ὑπάρχειν ἐπιτηδείως ἔχουσαν. The expression κατ ̓ εὐχὴν, such a government as one would wish or pray for, is used elsewhere by Aristotle, ii. 1. ad init. iv. 1, and appears to be borrowed from Plato, Rep. vi. 12, p. 499.

(57) Compare viii. 7, ad fin. περὶ μὲν οὖν τῶν πολιτευομένων, πόσους τε ὑπάρχειν δεῖ καὶ ποίους τινὰς τὴν φύσιν, ἔτι δὲ τὴν χώραν πόσην τέ τινα καὶ ποίαν τινὰ, διώρισται σχέδον· οὐ γὰρ τὴν ἀκριβείαν δεῖ ζητεῖν διά τε τῶν λόγων καὶ τῶν γιγνομένων διὰ τῆς αἰσθήσεως.

Again, after some details upon the best sites for market-places, gymnasia, public offices, temples, &c., he adds: ảλλà tò diaтpíbewv vûv åkpiboλoyovμévovs καὶ λέγοντας περὶ τῶν τοιούτων ἀργόν ἐστιν. οὐ γὰρ χαλεπόν ἐστι τὰ τοιαῦτα νοῆσαι, ἀλλὰ ποιῆσαι μᾶλλον· τὸ μὲν γὰρ λέγειν εὐχῆς ἔργον ἐστὶ, τὸ δὲ συμβῆναι Túxns. This remark applies with great force to some of the later books of Plato's Laws, as well as to other Utopian plans.

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treatise.(5) Aristotle's political treatise, therefore, like the Republic and Laws of Plato, is a search after the best form of government. The material difference in the treatment of the problem is this, that whereas, in Plato, the ideal element predominates over the scientific, in Aristotle, the scientific element predominates over the ideal; and that, whereas one is in the constructive form of an ideal state, and appears to deal with singulars, the latter treats of the best form of government, and deals with generals.

§ 12 Greek philosophy produced nothing important and original in the speculative department of politics after Plato and Aristotle.(59) Both the Stoic and Epicurean sects confined themselves almost exclusively within the circuit of logic, physics, and ethics. Zeno, indeed, the founder of the Stoic sect, proposed his ideal model of political perfection, namely, that mankind should not live in separate states, each having its own institutions, but that all men should be fellow-citizens, and form, as it were, one flock, with one mode of life and one system of law. (60)

§ 13 The Romans opened a new vein of thought in practical politics, and have even bequeathed a system of jurisprudence to the modern world. But in political speculation they were mere imitators and followers of the Greeks. Cicero, as we have already seen, wrote two political treatises, (6) after the model of

(58) Biese (Philosophie des Aristoteles, vol. ii. p. 532-72) gives a summary of the physical and political conditions for the perfect state of Aristotle. See also Ritter, ubi sup. vol. iii. p. 371; and Nickes, De Aristotelis Politicorum Libris (Bonn, 1851), c. 5.

(59) Above, ch. iii. § 7. Theophrastus wrote a treatise, tepì tês ȧpíorns πολιτείας, and another on the question, πῶς ἄριστ ̓ ἂν πόλις οἰκοῖτο.—Diog. Laert. v. 44, 49. Cicero alludes to his having written on the question, ' qui esset optimus reipublicæ status.'-De Fin. v. 4.

(60) Plutarch, De Alexand. Fort. i. 6: Toûro (says Plutarch) Znvov pèr ἔγραψεν ὥσπερ ὄναρ ἢ εἴδωλον εὐνομίας φιλοσόφου καὶ πολιτείας ἀνατυπωσάμενος. Compare Ritter, Gesch. der Phil. vol. iii. p. 635.

(61) Cicero, in enumerating his writings, at the beginning of the second book of his treatise De Divinatione, thus speaks of his work De Republica: Atque his libris adnumerandi sunt sex de Republicâ, quos tunc scripsimus, quum gubernacula reipublicæ tenebamus. Magnus locus, philosophiæque proprius, a Platone, Aristotele, Theophrasto, totâque Peri

the Republic and Laws of Plato. They were composed with a view of applying the theories of the Greek philosophers to Roman affairs; of illustrating the institutions of Rome by the abstract doctrines of the Greek political speculators. (6)

The problem which Cicero undertakes to solve, in his dialogue De Republicâ, is to determine what is the best form of government.() He decides that each of the simple forms, viz. the government of a king, the government of optimates or nobles, and popular government, is defective. Instances may occur in which one of these simple forms is tolerable, and one may be better than another, but none is perfect or excellent.(") If any simple, and unmixed

pateticorum familiâ tractatus uberrime.'-ii. 1. Compare De Leg. iii. 6. The work was written in the year 54 B.C. It had great success, Ep. ad Div. viii. 1, ad fin. The treatise De Legibus was composed three years afterwards, 51 B.C. See Drumann, Geschichte Roms. &c., vol. vi. p. 83-7, 104-7. The Emperor Alexander Severus, when the business of the day was over, used to study the Republic of Plato, and the Republic and Offices of Cicero.-Lamprid. in Vit. c. 30.

(62) See Mai, præf. ad Rep. p. iii. Ritter remarks upon the want of originality in Cicero's two political works (vol. iv. p. 164-8). Their value consists in his comments upon the constitution and legislation of Rome, subjects on which he speaks with the highest authority.

(63) Scipionem rogemus, ut explicet quem existimet esse optimum statum civitatis' (i. 20). It is the same problem as that proposed by the Greek writers: ris àpiσrn modireia. In the dialogue De Legibus, Atticus says, in allusion to the dialogue De Republicâ: Quoniam scriptum est a te de optimo reipublicæ statu.'-i. 5. Again, he says (De Leg. iii. 2), Nos autem, quoniam leges damus liberis populis; quæque de optimâ republicâ sentiremus, in sex libris ante diximus; accommodabimus hoc tempore leges ad illum, quem probamus, civitatis statum.' Again (iii. 5): 'Atqui pleraque dicta sunt in illis libris; quod faciendum fuit, quum de optimâ republicâ quæritur.' In a letter to his brother, he describes himself as engaged in the composition of the dialogue De Republicâ, and as uncertain about the plan of the work: Sermo autem in novem et dies et libros distributus de optimo statu civitatis et de optimo cive.'-Epist. ad Quint. Frat. iii. 5.

(64) Quum penes unum est omnium summa rerum, regem illum unum vocamus, et regnum ejus reipublicæ statum. Quum autem est penes delectos, tum illa civitas optimatium arbitrio regi dicitur. Illa autem est civitas popularis, sic enim appellant, in quâ in populo sunt omnia. Atque horum trium generum quodvis .... non perfectum illud quidem neque meâ sententiâ optimum, sed tolerabile tamen; ut aliud alio possit esse præstantius.-i. 26. Primum enim numero definieram genera civitatum tria probabilia; perniciosa autem tribus illis totidem contraria; nullumque ex eis unum esse optimum; sed id præstare singulis quod e tribus primis esset modice temperatum, ii. 39. The three pairs of forms of government -a good and a bad in each-are borrowed from Aristotle.

government is deserving of approbation, it is the regal form.(“) The government of an absolute king is liable to degenerate into tyranny; but so long as he governs with wisdom and justice, it is preferable to the other two.(66) The best form of all, however, is that which is mixed of the three simple forms, in which the ruling power is divided between the king, the optimates or nobles, and the people. Each of the simple forms, however good, is liable to its characteristic degeneracy: it contains within itself the seeds of change into evil. A king may become a despot; a body of nobles may become a faction; a people may become a mob-but a mixed government, by the mutual action of its component elements, is able to maintain its equilibrium, and to resist the tendency to depravation. (67)

(65) Si unum ac simplex probandum sit, regium probem atque in primis laudem' (i. 35; also, i. 45). Nam ipsam regale genus civitatis non modo non est reprehendendum, sed haud scio an reliquis simplicibus longe anteponendum, si ullum probarem simplex reipublicæ genus.'-ii. 23.

(66) Cicero falls into confusion by using the term royalty instead of monarchy. Hence he loses the logical advantage, enjoyed by Plato, who calls the good monarch a king, and the bad monarch a rúpavvos, or despot. See his remark on the Greek phraseology.-Rep. ii. 26.

Cicero follows Plato in approving of royalty; but he is perplexed by the proneness of the absolute king to govern ill. See ii. 23, 26; iii. 35. It is a bonum, ut dixi, reipublicæ genus, sed tamen inclinatum et quasi pronum ad perniciosissimum statum.'-ii. 26. Compare Tusc. Disp. iv. 1, where, in reference to Rome, he says that 'progressio admirabilis incredibilisque cursus ad omnem excellentiam factus est, dominatu regio republicâ liberatâ.' Compare Sallust, Cat. 7. Sp. Mummius, however, one of the interlocutors in the dialogue, prefers the government of the good few, to the government of a single king, which reminds him of a slavemaster (dominus). He prefers, however, even an absolute king to a democracy.-iii. 34.

(67) Itaque quartum quoddam genus reipublicæ maxime probandum esse sentio, quod est ex his, quæ prima dixí, moderatum et permixtum tribus' (i. 29). Recte quæris, quíd maxime e tribus: quoniam eorum nullum ipsum per se separatum probo; anteponoque singulis illud, quod conflatum fuerit ex omnibus' (ib. 35). Quod ita quum sit, tribus primis generibus longe præstat, meâ sententiâ, regium; regio autem ipsi præstabit id, quod erit æquatum et temperatum ex tribus optimis rerumpublicarum modis.' He proceeds to say, that each of the simple forms is liable to change and depravation; but he adds: Hoc in hâc junctâ moderateque permixtâ conformatione reipublicæ non ferme sine magnis principum vitiis evenit' (i. 45). Statu esse optimo constitutam rempublicam, quæ ex tribus generibus illis, regali et optimati et populari confusa modice, nec puniendo irritet animum immanem ac ferum ii. 23 (the latter passage is a fragment preserved by Nonius). Compare ii. 9, 39; iii. 14; Leg. iii. 5, where the doctrine of Scipio in the dialogue De R. P. is referred to.

As an example of his views respecting the best form of government, Cicero selects the positive instance of the Roman state, which substantial and actual model he considers as preferable to any ideal and shadowy type, such as that of Plato ;(6) and he accordingly traces its constitutional history from Romulus downwards.

The dialogue of the Laws, like that of the Republic of Cicero, has only reached us in an imperfect state. Out of five or six

(68) Facilius autem quod est propositum consequar, si nostram rempublicam vobis et nascentem et crescentem et adultam et jam firmam atque robustam ostendero; quam si mihi aliquam, ut apud Platonem Socrates, ipse finxero' (ii. 1). Nam princeps ille (Plato) quo nemo in scribendo præstantior fuit, aream sibi sumpsit, in qua civitatem extrueret arbitratu suo; præclaram quidem illam fortasse, sed a vitâ hominum abhorrentem et a moribus. Reliqui disseruerunt, sine ullo certo exemplari formâque reipublicæ, de generibus et de rationibus civitatum. Tu mihi videris utrumque facturus; es enim ita ingressus, ut, quæ ipse reperias, tribuere aliis malis, quam ut facit apud Platonem Socrates, ipse fingere; et illa de Urbis situ revoces ad rationem, quæ a Romulo casu aut necessitate facta sunt; et disputes non vaganti oratione, sed defixâ in unâ republicâ. Quare perge, ut instituisti: prospicere enim jam videor te reliquos reges persequentem quasi perfectam rempublicam' (ii. 11). This passage well illustrates the difference between the purely ideal model, and the real model partially idealized. Again (in c. 30) speaking of Plato, he contrasts the two sorts of models: Ego autem, si quo modo consequi potuero, rationibus eisdem, quas ille vidit, non in umbrâ et imagine civitatis, sed in amplissimâ republicâ enitar, ut cujusque et boni publici et mali caussam tamquam virgulâ videar attingere.' Again (c. 39): Quod autem exemplo nostræ civitatis usus sum, non ad definiendum optimum statum valuit; nam id fieri potuit sine exemplo; sed ut a civitate maximâ reapse cerneretur quale esset id, quod ratio oratioque describeret.'

The description of the Roman state, as an example of an excellent government, in the dialogue De Republicâ, is alluded to in Tusc. Disp. iv. 1. The opinion that the Roman constitution is the optimus longe status civitatis,' is referred to in Rep. i. 21. Compare likewise the passage in the dialogue De Legibus, iii. 5:

Q. Quam brevi, frater, in conspectu posita est a te magistratuum descriptio: sed ea pæne nostræ civitatis: etsi a te paullum allatum est novi.

M. Rectissime, Quinte, animadvertis. Hæc est enim, quam Scipio laudat in libris et quam maxime probat temperationem reipublicæ: quæ effici non potuisset, nisi tali descriptione magistratuum. Nam sic habetote; magistratibus, iisque qui præsunt, contineri rempublicam, et ex eorum compositione, quod cujusque reipublicæ genus sit, intelligi. Quæ res quum sapientissime moderatissimeque constituta esset a majoribus nostris, nihil habui, sane non modo multum, quod putarem novandum in legibus.'

In this passage, Cicero refers to Scipio in his own Republic, as Aristotle refers to Socrates in the Republic of Plato. The Roman constitution is treated as an actual model of excellence by Polybius, vi. 18: σte μǹ oióv τ ̓ εἶναι, ταύτης εὑρεῖν ἀμείνω πολιτείας σύστασιν.