BOOK I - CHAPTER V

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_ But whether any person is such by nature, and whether it is
advantageous and just for any one to be a slave or no, or whether all
slavery is contrary to nature, shall be considered hereafter; not that
it is difficult to determine it upon general principles, or to
understand it from matters of fact; for that some should govern, and
others be governed, is not only necessary but useful, and from the
hour of their birth some are marked out for those purposes, and others
for the other, and there are many species of both sorts. And the
better those are who are governed the better also is the government,
as for instance of man, rather than the brute creation: for the more
excellent the materials are with which the work is finished, the more
excellent certainly is the work; and wherever there is a governor and
a governed, there certainly is some work produced; for whatsoever is
composed of many parts, which jointly become one, whether conjunct or
separate, evidently show the marks of governing and governed; and this
is true of every living thing in all nature; nay, even in some things
which partake not of life, as in music; but this probably would be a
disquisition too foreign to our present purpose. Every living thing in
the first place is composed of soul and body, of these the one is by
nature the governor, the other the governed; now if we would know what
is natural, we ought to search for it in those subjects in which
nature appears most perfect, and not in those which are corrupted; we
should therefore examine into a man who is most perfectly formed both
in soul and body, in whom this is evident, for in the depraved and
vicious the body seems [1254b] to rule rather than the soul, on
account of their being corrupt and contrary to nature. We may then, as
we affirm, perceive in an animal the first principles of herile and
political government; for the soul governs the body as the master
governs his slave; the mind governs the appetite with a political or a
kingly power, which shows that it is both natural and advantageous
that the body should be governed by the soul, and the pathetic part by
the mind, and that part which is possessed of reason; but to have no
ruling power, or an improper one, is hurtful to all; and this holds
true not only of man, but of other animals also, for tame animals are
naturally better than wild ones, and it is advantageous that both
should be under subjection to man; for this is productive of their
common safety: so is it naturally with the male and the female; the
one is superior, the other inferior; the one governs, the other is
governed; and the same rule must necessarily hold good with respect to
all mankind. Those men therefore who are as much inferior to others as
the body is to the soul, are to be thus disposed of, as the proper use
of them is their bodies, in which their excellence consists; and if
what I have said be true, they are slaves by nature, and it is
advantageous to them to be always under government. He then is by
nature formed a slave who is qualified to become the chattel of
another person, and on that account is so, and who has just reason
enough to know that there is such a faculty, without being indued with
the use of it; for other animals have no perception of reason, but are
entirely guided by appetite, and indeed they vary very little in their
use from each other; for the advantage which we receive, both from
slaves and tame animals, arises from their bodily strength
administering to our necessities; for it is the intention of nature to
make the bodies of slaves and freemen different from each other, that
the one should be robust for their necessary purposes, the others
erect, useless indeed for what slaves are employed in, but fit for
civil life, which is divided into the duties of war and peace; though
these rules do not always take place, for slaves have sometimes the
bodies of freemen, sometimes the souls; if then it is evident that if
some bodies are as much more excellent than others as the statues of
the gods excel the human form, every one will allow that the inferior
ought to be slaves to the superior; and if this is true with respect
to the body, it is still juster to determine in the same manner, when
we consider the soul; though it is not so easy to perceive the beauty
of [1255a] the soul as it is of the body. Since then some men are
slaves by nature, and others are freemen, it is clear that where
slavery is advantageous to any one, then it is just to make him a
slave. _

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