BOOK III - CHAPTER V

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_ But with respect to citizens there is a doubt remaining, whether those
only are truly so who are allowed to share in the government, or
whether the mechanics also are to be considered as such? for if those
who are not permitted to rule are to be reckoned among them, it is
impossible that the virtue of all the citizens should be the same, for
these also are citizens; and if none of them are admitted to be
citizens, where shall they be ranked? for they are neither [1278a]
sojourners nor foreigners? or shall we say that there will no
inconvenience arise from their not being citizens, as they are neither
slaves nor freedmen: for this is certainly true, that all those are
not citizens who are necessary to the existence of a city, as boys are
not citizens in the same manner that men are, for those are perfectly
so, the others under some conditions; for they are citizens, though
imperfect ones: for in former times among some people the mechanics
were either slaves or foreigners, for which reason many of them are so
now: and indeed the best regulated states will not permit a mechanic
to be a citizen; but if it be allowed them, we cannot then attribute
the virtue we have described to every citizen or freeman, but to those
only who are disengaged from servile offices. Now those who are
employed by one person in them are slaves; those who do them for money
are mechanics and hired servants: hence it is evident on the least
reflection what is their situation, for what I have said is fully
explained by appearances. Since the number of communities is very
great, it follows necessarily that there will be many different sorts
of citizens, particularly of those who are governed by others, so that
in one state it may be necessary to admit mechanics and hired servants
to be citizens, but in others it may be impossible; as particularly in
an aristocracy, where honours are bestowed on virtue and dignity: for
it is impossible for one who lives the life of a mechanic or hired
servant to acquire the practice of virtue. In an oligarchy also hired
servants are not admitted to be citizens; because there a man's right
to bear any office is regulated by his fortune; but mechanics are, for
many citizens are very rich.

There was a law at Thebes that no one could have a share in the
government till he had been ten years out of trade. In many states the
law invites strangers to accept the freedom of the city; and in some
democracies the son of a free-woman is himself free. The same is also
observed in many others with respect to natural children; but it is
through want of citizens regularly born that they admit such: for
these laws are always made in consequence of a scarcity of
inhabitants; so, as their numbers increase, they first deprive the
children of a male or female slave of this privilege, next the child
of a free-woman, and last of all they will admit none but those whose
fathers and mothers were both free.

That there are many sorts of citizens, and that he may be said to be
as completely who shares the honours of the state, is evident from
what has been already said. Thus Achilles, in Homer, complains of
Agamemnon's treating him like an unhonoured stranger; for a stranger
or sojourner is one who does not partake of the honours of the state:
and whenever the right to the freedom of the city is kept obscure, it
is for the sake of the inhabitants. [1278b] From what has been said it
is plain whether the virtue of a good man and an excellent citizen is
the same or different: and we find that in some states it is the
same, in others not; and also that this is not true of each citizen,
but of those only who take the lead, or are capable of taking the
lead, in public affairs, either alone or in conjunction with others. _

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