BOOK VII - CHAPTER X

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_ It seems neither now nor very lately to have been known [1329b] to
those philosophers who have made politics their study, that a city
ought to be divided by families into different orders of men; and that
the husbandmen and soldiers should be kept separate from each other;
which custom is even to this day preserved in Egypt and in Crete; also
Sesostris having founded it in Egypt, Minos in Crete. Common meals
seem also to have been an ancient regulation, and to have been
established in Crete during the reign of Minos, and in a still more
remote period in Italy; for those who are the best judges in that
country say that one Italus being king of AEnotria., from whom the
people, changing their names, were called Italians instead of
AEnotrians, and that part of Europe was called Italy which is bounded
by the Scylletic Gulf on the one side and the Lametic on the other,
the distance between which is about half a day's journey. This Italus,
they relate, made the AEnotrians, who were formerly shepherds,
husbandmen, and gave them different laws from what they had before,
and to have been the first who established common meals, for which
reason some of his descendants still use them, and observe some of his
laws. The Opici inhabit that part which lies towards the Tyrrhenian
Sea, who both now are and formerly were called Ausonians. The Chones
inhabited the part toward Iapigia and the Ionian Sea which is called
Syrtis. These Chones were descended from the AEnotrians. Hence arose
the custom of common meals, but the separation of the citizens into
different families from Egypt: for the reign of Sesostris is of much
higher antiquity than that of Minos. As we ought to think that most
other things were found out in a long, nay, even in a boundless time
(reason teaching us that want would make us first invent that which
was necessary, and, when that was obtained, then those things which
were requisite for the conveniences and ornament of life), so should
we conclude the same with respect to a political state; now everything
in Egypt bears the marks of the most remote antiquity, for these
people seem to be the most ancient of all others, and to have acquired
laws and political order; we should therefore make a proper use of
what is told us of them, and endeavour to find out what they have
omitted. We have already said, that the landed property ought to
belong to the military and those who partake of the government of the
state; and that therefore the husbandmen should be a separate order of
people; and how large and of what nature the country ought to be: we
will first treat of the division of the land, and of the husbandmen,
how many and of what sort they ought to be; since we by no means hold
that property ought to be common, as some persons have said, only thus
far, in friendship, it [1330a] should be their custom to let no
citizen want subsistence. As to common meals, it is in general agreed
that they are proper in well-regulated cities; my reasons for
approving of them shall be mentioned hereafter: they are what all the:
citizens ought to partake of; but it will not be easy for the poor,
out of what is their own, to furnish as much as they are ordered to
do, and supply their own house besides. The expense also of religious
worship should be defrayed by the whole state. Of necessity therefore
the land ought to be divided into two parts, one of which should
belong to the community in general, the other to the individuals
separately; and each of these parts should again be subdivided into
two: half of that which belongs to the public should be appropriated
to maintain the worship of the gods, the other half to support the
common meals. Half of that which belongs to the individuals should be
at the extremity of the country, the other half near the city, so that
these two portions being allotted to each person, all would partake of
land in both places, which would be both equal and right; and induce
them to act in concert with greater harmony in any war with their
neighbours: for when the land is not divided in this manner, one party
neglects the inroads of the enemy on the borders, the other makes it a
matter of too much consequence and more than is necessary; for which
reason in some places there is a law which forbids the inhabitants of
the borders to have any vote in the council when they are debating
upon a war which is made against them as their private interest might
prevent their voting impartially. Thus therefore the country ought to
be divided and for the reasons before mentioned. Could one have one's
choice, the husbandmen should by all means be slaves, not of the same
nation, or men of any spirit; for thus they would be laborious in
their business, and safe from attempting any novelties: next to these
barbarian servants are to be preferred, similar in natural disposition
to these we have already mentioned. Of these, let those who are to
cultivate the private property of the individual belong to that
individual, and those who are to cultivate the public territory belong
to the public. In what manner these slaves ought to be used, and for
what reason it is very proper that they should have the promise of
their liberty made them, as a reward for their services, shall be
mentioned hereafter. _

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