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Politics - A Treatise on Government
by Aristotle
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CHAPTER VII

We are now to enter into an inquiry concerning harmony and rhythm; whether all sorts of these are to be employed in education, or whether some peculiar ones are to be selected; and also whether we should give the same directions to those who are engaged in music as part of education, or whether there is something different from these two. Now, as all music consists in melody and rhythm, we ought not to be unacquainted with the power which each of these has in education; and whether we should rather choose music in which melody prevails, or rhythm: but when I consider how many things have been well written upon these subjects, not only by some musicians of the present age, but also by some philosophers who are perfectly skilled in that part of music which belongs to education; we will refer those who desire a very particular knowledge therein to those writers, and shall only treat of it in general terms, without descending to particulars. Melody is divided by some philosophers, whose notions we approve of, into moral, practical, and that which fills the mind with enthusiasm: they also allot to each of these a particular kind of harmony which naturally corresponds therewith: and we say that music should not be applied to one purpose only, but many; both for instruction and purifying the soul (now I use the word purifying at present without any explanation, but shall speak more at large of it in my Poetics); and, in the third place, as an agreeable manner of spending the time and a relaxation from the uneasiness of the mind. [1342a] It is evident that all harmonies are to be used; but not for all purposes; but the most moral in education: but to please the ear, when others play, the most active and enthusiastic; for that passion which is to be found very strong in some souls is to be met with also in all; but the difference in different persons consists in its being in a less or greater degree, as pity, fear, and enthusiasm also; which latter is so powerful in some as to overpower the soul: and yet we see those persons, by the application of sacred music to soothe their mind, rendered as sedate and composed as if they had employed the art of the physician: and this must necessarily happen to the compassionate, the fearful, and all those who are subdued by their passions: nay, all persons, as far as they are affected with those passions, admit of the same cure, and are restored to tranquillity with pleasure. In the same manner, all music which has the power of purifying the soul affords a harmless pleasure to man. Such, therefore, should be the harmony and such the music which those who contend with each other in the theatre should exhibit: but as the audience is composed of two sorts of people, the free and the well-instructed, the rude the mean mechanics, and hired servants, and a long collection of the like, there must be some music and some spectacles to please and soothe them; for as their minds are as it were perverted from their natural habits, so also is there an unnatural harmony, and overcharged music which is accommodated to their taste: but what is according to nature gives pleasure to every one, therefore those who are to contend upon the theatre should be allowed to use this species of music. But in education ethic melody and ethic harmony should be used, which is the Doric, as we have already said, or any other which those philosophers who are skilful in that music which is to be employed in education shall approve of. But Socrates, in Plato's Republic, is very wrong when he [1342b] permits only the Phrygian music to be used as well as the Doric, particularly as amongst other instruments he banishes the flute; for the Phrygian music has the same power in harmony as the flute has amongst the instruments; for they are both pathetic and raise the mind: and this the practice of the poets proves; for in their bacchanal songs, or whenever they describe any violent emotions of the mind, the flute is the instrument they chiefly use: and the Phrygian harmony is most suitable to these subjects. Now, that the dithyrambic measure is Phrygian is allowed by general consent; and those who are conversant in studies of this sort bring many proofs of it; as, for instance, when Philoxenus endeavoured to compose dithyrambic music for Doric harmony, he naturally fell back again into Phrygian, as being fittest for that purpose; as every one indeed agrees, that the Doric music is most serious, and fittest to inspire courage: and, as we always commend the middle as being between the two extremes, and the Doric has this relation with respect to other harmonies, it is evident that is what the youth ought to be instructed in. There are two things to be taken into consideration, both what is possible and what is proper; every one then should chiefly endeavour to attain those things which contain both these qualities: but this is to be regulated by different times of life; for instance, it is not easy for those who are advanced in years to sing such pieces of music as require very high notes, for nature points out to them those which are gentle and require little strength of voice (for which reason some who are skilful in music justly find fault with Socrates for forbidding the youth to be instructed in gentle harmony; as if, like wine, it would make them drunk, whereas the effect of that is to render men bacchanals, and not make them languid): these therefore are what should employ those who are grown old. Moreover, if there is any harmony which is proper for a child's age, as being at the same time elegant and instructive, as the Lydian of all others seems chiefly to be-These then are as it were the three boundaries of education, moderation, possibility, and decorum.



INDEX

ACHILLES, 76

Act of the city, what, 69

Actions, their original spring, i

Administration, 76; whether to be shared by the whole community, 203

AEsumnetes, 96

AEthiopia, in what manner the power of the state is there regulated, 112

Alterations in government, whence they arise, 142; what they are, 143

Ambractia, the government of, changed, 151

Andromadas Reginus, a lawgiver to the Thracian Calcidians, 65

Animals, their different provisions by nature, 14; intended by nature for the benefit of man, 14; what constitutes their different species, 113

Animals, tame, why better than wild, 8

Arbitrator and judge, their difference, 49

Architas his rattle, 248

Areopagus, senate of, 63

Argonauts refuse to take Hercules with them, 93

Aristocracies, causes of commotions in them, 157; chief cause of their alteration, 158; may degenerate into an oligarchy, 79

Aristocracy, what, 78; treated of, 120; its object, 121

Art, works of, which most excellent, 20

Artificers and slaves, their difference, 24

Assemblies, public, advantageous to a democracy, 134

Assembly, public, its proper business, 133

Athens, different dispositions of the citizens of, 149

Barter, its original, 15

Being, what the nature of every one is, 3

Beings, why some command, others obey, 2

Body by nature to be governed, 8; requires our care before the soul, 232

Calchis, the government of, changed, 151

Calcidians, 65

Carthaginian government described, 60

Census in a free state should be as extensive as possible, 131; how to be altered, 162

Charondas supposed to be the scholar of Zaleucus, 64

Child, how to be managed when first born, 235; should be taught nothing till he is five years old, 235; how then to be educated, 236

Children, the proper government of, 22; what their proper virtues, 23; what they are usually taught, 240

Cities, how governed at first, 3; what, 3; the work of nature, 3; prior in contemplation to a family, or an individual, 4

Citizen, who is one? 66, 68; should know both how to command and obey, 73

Citizens must have some things in common, 26; should be exempted from servile labour, 51; privileges different in different governments, 68; if illegally made, whether illegal, 69; who admitted to be, 75; in the best states ought not to follow merchandise, 216

City, may be too much one, 27, 35; what, 66, 82; when it continues the same, 70; for whose sake established, 76; its end, 83; of what parts made up, 113; best composed of equals, 126

City of the best form, what its establishment ought to be, 149; wherein its greatness consists, 149; may be either too large or too small, 209; what should be its situation, 211; whether proper near the sea, 211; ought to be divided by families into different sorts of men, 218

City and confederacy, their difference, 37; wherein it should be one, 27

Command amongst equals should be in rotation, 101

Common meals not well established at Lacedaemon-well at Crete, 56; the model from whence the Lacedaemonian was taken, 56; inferior to it in some respects, 56

Community, its recommendations deceitful, 34; into what people it may be divided, 194

Community of children, 29, 30; inconveniences attending it, 31

Community of goods, its inconveniences, 28; destructive of modesty and liberality, 34

Community of wives, its inconveniences, 27

Contempt a cause of sedition, 146

Courage of a man different from a woman's, 74

Courts, how many there ought to be, 140

Courts of justice should be few in a small state, 192

Cretan customs similar to the Lacedasmonian, 57; assembly open to every citizen, 58

Cretans, their power, 58; their public meals, how conducted 58

Crete, the government of, 57; description of the island of 57

Customs at Carthage, Lacedse-mon, and amongst the Scythians and Iberians, concerning those who had killed an enemy, 204, 205

Dadalus's statues, 6.

Delphos, an account of a sedition there, 150

Demagogues, their influence in a democracy, 116.

Democracies, arose out of tyrannies, 100; whence they arose, 142; when changed into tyrannies, 153; their different sorts, 184, 188; general rules for their establishment, 185; should not be made too perfect, 191

Democracy, what, 79, 80; its definition, 112, 113; different sorts of, 115, 118; its object, 122; how subverted in the Isle of Cos, 152

Democracy and aristocracy, how they may be blended together, 163

Democratical state, its foundation, 184

Despotic power absurd, 205

Dion, his noble resolution, 171

Dionysius, his taxes, 175

Dissolution of kingdoms and tyrannies, 169

Domestic employments of men and women different, 74

Domestic government, its object, 77

Domestic society the first, 3

Draco, 65

Dyrrachium, government of, 101

Economy and money-getting, difference, 17

Education necessary for the happiness of the city, 90; of all things most necessary to preserve the state, 166; what it ought to be, 166; the objects of it, 228, 229; should be taken care of by the magistrate, and correspond to the nature of government, 238; should be a common care, and regulated by laws, 238

Employment, one to be allotted to one person in an extensive government, 136

Employments in the state, how to be disposed of, 88-90; whether all should be open to all, 216

Ephialtes abridges the power of the senate of Areopagus, 63

Ephori, at Sparta, their power too great, 54; improperly chosen, 54; flattered by their kings, 54; the supreme judges, 55; manner of life too indulgent, 55

Epidamnus, an account of a revolution there, 150

Equality, how twofold, 143; in a democracy, how to be procured, 186

Euripides quoted, 72

Family government, of what it consists, 5

Father should not be too young, 232

Females and slaves, wherein they differ, 2; why upon a level amongst barbarians, 3

Forfeitures, how to be applied, 192

Fortune improper pretension for power, 91

Freemen in general, what power they ought to have, 86

Free state treated of, 121; how it arises out of a democracy and oligarchy, 122, 123

Friendship weakened by a community of children, 31

General, the office of, how to be disposed of, 98

Gods, why supposed subject to kingly government, 3

Good, relative to man, how divided, 201

Good and evil, the perception of, necessary to form a family and a city, 4

Good fortune something different from happiness, 202

Government should continue as much as possible in the same hands, 28; in what manner it should be in rotation, 28; what, 66; which best, of a good man or good laws, 98; good, to what it should owe its preservation, 124; what the best, 225

Government of the master over the slave sometimes reciprocally useful, ii

Governments, how different from each other, 67; whether more than one form should be established, 76; should endeavour to prevent others from being too powerful— instances of it, 93; how compared to music, in; in general, to what they owe their preservation, 160

Governments, political, regal, family, and servile, their difference from each other, i

Governors and governed, whether their virtues are the same or different, 23; whether they should be the same persons or different, 227

Grecians, their superiority over other people, 213

Guards of a king natives, 96,168; of a tyrant foreigners, 96, 168

Gymnastic exercises, when to be performed, 223; how far they should be made a part of education, 242, 243

Happiness, wherein it consists, 207

Happy life, where most likely to be found, 202

Harmony, whether all kinds of it are to be used in education, 251

Helots troublesome to the Lacedaemonians, 87

Herdsmen compose the second-best democracy, 189

Hippodamus, an account of, 46; his plan of government, 46, 47: objected to, 47, 48

Homer quoted, 95, 116

Honours, an inequality of, occasions seditions, 44

Horse most suitable to an oligarchy, 195

Houses, private, their best form, 221

Human flesh devoured by some nations, 242

Husbandmen compose the best democracy, 189; will choose to govern according to law, 118

Husbandry, art of, whether part of money-getting, 13

Instruments, their difference from each other, 6; wherein they differ from possessions, 6

Italy, its ancient boundary, 218

Jason's declaration, 72

Judge should not act as an arbitrator, 48, 49; which is best for an individual, or the people in general, 98, 99

Judges, many better than one, 102; of whom to consist, 102; how many different sorts are necessary, 141

Judicial part of government, how to be divided, 140

Jurymen, particular powers sometimes appointed to that office, 68

Justice, what, 88; the course of, impeded in Crete, 59; different in different situations, 74

King, from whom to be chosen 60; the guardian of his people 168

King's children, what to be done with, 100

King's power, what it should be 100; when unequal, 143

Kingdom, what, 78

Kingdoms, their object, 167; how bestowed, 168; causes of their dissolution, 173; how preserved, 173

Kingly government in the heroic times, what, 96

Kingly power regulated by the laws at Sparta in peace, 95; absolute in war, 95

Kings formerly in Crete, 58; their power afterwards devolved to the kosmoi, 58; method of electing them at Carthage, 60

Knowledge of the master and slave different from each other, ii

Kosmoi, the power of, 58; their number, 58; wherein inferior to the ephori, 58; allowed to resign their office before their time is elapsed, 59

Lacedamonian customs similar to the Cretan, 57

Lacedaemonian government much esteemed, 41; the faults of it, 53-56; calculated only for war, 56; how composed of a democracy and oligarchy, 124

Lacedaemonian revenue badly raised, 56, 57

Lacedaemonians, wherein they admit things to be common, 33

Land should be divided into two parts, 219

Law makes one man a slave, another free, 6; whether just or not, 9; at Thebes respecting tradesmen, 75; nothing should be done contrary to it, 160

Law and government, their difference, 107, 108

Laws, when advantageous to alter them, 49,50, 52; of every state will be like the state, 88; whom they should be calculated for, 92; decide better than men, 101; moral preferable to written, 102; must sometimes bend to ancient customs, 117; should be framed to the state, 107; the same suit not all governments, 108

Legislator ought to know not only what is best, but what is practical, n

Legislators should fix a proper medium in property, 46

Liberty, wherein it partly consists, 184, 185

Life, happy, owing to a course of virtue, 125; how divided, 228

Locrians forbid men to sell their property, 43

Lycophron's account of law, 82

Lycurgus gave over reducing the women to obedience, 53; made it infamous for any one to sell his possessions, 53; some of his laws censured, 54; spent much time at Crete, 57; supposed to be the scholar of Thales, 64

Lysander wanted to abolish the kingly power in Sparta, 143

Magistrate, to whom that name is properly given, 136

Magistrates, when they make the state incline to an oligarchy, 61; when to an aristocracy, 61; at Athens, from whom to be chosen, 64; to determine those causes which the law cannot be applied to, 88; whether their power is to be the same, or different in different communities, 137; how they differ from each other, 138; in those who appoint them, 138; should be continued but a short time in democracies, 161; how to be chosen in a democracy, 185; different sorts and employments, 196

Making and using, their difference, 6

Malienses, their form of government, 131

Man proved to be a political animal, 4; has alone a perception of good and evil, 4; without law and justice the worst of beings, 5

Master, power of, whence it arises, as some think, 5

Matrimony, when to be engaged in, 232

Meals, common, established in Crete and Italy, 218; expense of, should be defrayed by the whole state, 219

Mechanic employments useful for citizens, 73

Mechanics, whether they should be allowed to be citizens, 74, 75; cannot acquire the practice of virtue, 75; admitted to be citizens in an oligarchy, 75

Medium of circumstances best, 126

Members of the community, their different pretences to the employments of the state, 90; what natural dispositions they ought to be of, 213

Men, some distinguished by nature for governors, others to be governed, 7; their different modes of living, 13; worthy three ways, 226

Merchandise, three different ways of carrying it on, 20

Middle rank of men make the best citizens, 127; most conducive to the preservation of the state, 128; should be particularly attended to by the legislators, 130

Military, how divided, 194

Mitylene, an account of a dispute there, 150

Monarch, absolute, 100

Monarchies, their nature, 95, 96; sometimes elective, 95; sometimes hereditary, 95; whence they sometimes arise, 146; causes of corruption in them, 167; how preserved, 173

Money, how it made its way into commerce, 16; first weighed, 16; afterwards stamped, 16; its value dependent on agreement, 16; how gained by exchange, 19

Money—getting considered at large, 17, 18

Monopolising gainful, 21; sometimes practised by cities, 21

Monopoly of iron in Sicily, a remarkable instance of the profit of it, 21

Music, how many species of it, in; why a part of education, 240; how far it should be taught, 242, 243; professors of it considered as mean people, 244; imitates the disposition of the mind, 246; improves our manners, 246; Lydian, softens the mind, 247; pieces of, difficult in their execution, not to be taught to children, 249

Nature requires equality amongst equals, 101

Naval power should be regulated by the strength of the city, 212

Necessary parts of a city, what, 215

Nobles, the difference between them, no; should take care of the poor, 193

Oath, an improper one in an oligarchy, 166

Officers of state, who they ought to be, 135; how long to continue, 135; who to choose them, 136

Offices, distinction between them, 67; when subversive of the rights of the people, 130

Offspring, an instance of the likeness of, to the sire, 30

Oligarchies arise where the strength of the state consists in horse, no; whence they arose, 142

Oligarchy admits not hired servants to be citizens, 75; its object, 79; what, 79, 81; its definition, 112; different sorts of, 117, 119; its object, 122; how it ought to be founded, 195

Onomacritus supposed to have drawn up laws, 64

Ostracism, why established, 93, 146; its power, 93; a weapon in the hand of sedition, 94

Painting, why it should be made a part of education, 241

Particulars, five, in which the rights of the people will be undermined, 130

Pausanias wanted to abolish the ephori, 143

People, how they should be made one, 35; of Athens assume upon their victory over the Medes, 64; what best to submit to a kingly government, 104; to an aristocratic, 104; to a free state, 104; should be allowed the power of pardoning, not of condemning, 135

Periander's advice to Thrasy-bulus, 93, 169

Pericles introduces the paying of those who attended the court of justice, 64

Philolaus, a Theban legislator, quits his native country, 64

Phocea, an account of a dispute there, 150

Physician, his business, 86

Physicians, their mode of practice in Egypt, 98; when ill consult others, 102

Pittacus, 65

Plato censured, 180

Poor excused from bearing arms and from gymnastic exercises in an oligarchy, 131; paid for attending the public assemblies in a democracy, 131

Power of the master, its object, 77

Power, supreme, where it ought to be lodged, 84; why with the many, 85, 87

Powers of a state, different methods of delegating them to the citizens, 132-134

Preadvisers, court of, 135

Priesthood, to whom to be allotted, 217

Prisoners of war, whether they may be justly made slaves, 9

Private property not regulated the source of sedition, 42; Phaleas would have it equal, 42; how Phaleas would correct the irregularities of it, 43; Plato would allow a certain difference in it, 43

Property, its nature, 12; how it should be regulated, 32, 33; the advantages of having it private, 34; what quantity the public ought to have, 44; ought not to be common, 219

Public assemblies, when subversive of the liberties of the people, 130

Public money, how to be divided, 193

Qualifications necessary for those who are to fill the first departments in government, 164

Quality of a city, what meant by it, 129

Quantity, 129

Rest and peace the proper objects of the legislator, 230

Revolutions in a democracy, whence they arise, 152; in an oligarchy, 156

Rich fined in an oligarchy for not bearing arms and attending the gymnastic exercises, 131; receive nothing for attending the public assemblies in a democracy, 131

Rights of a citizen, whether advantageous or not, 203

Seditions sometimes prevented by equality, 45; their causes, 144-146; how to be prevented, 163

Senate suits a democracy, 185

Shepherds compose the second-best democracy, 189

Slave, his nature and use, 6; a chattel, 7; by law, how, 9

Slavery not founded in nature but law, as some think, 6

Slaves, an inquiry into the virtues they are capable of, 23; difficult to manage properly, 51; their different sorts, 73

Society necessary to man, 77

Society, civil, the greatest blessing to man, 4; different from a commercial intercourse, 82

Socrates, his mistakes on government, Book II. passim; his division of the inhabitants, 38; would have the women go to war, 38; Aristotle's opinion of his discourses, 38; his city would require a country of immeasurable extent, 39; his comparison of the human species to different kinds of metals, 40; his account of the different orders of men in a city imperfect, 3

Sojourners, their situation, 66

Solon's opinion of riches, 14; law for restraining property, 43; alters the Athenian government, 63

Soul by nature the governor over the body, and in what manner, 8; of man how divided, 228, 231

Speech a proof that man was formed for society, 4

State, each, consists of a great number of parts, 109; its disproportionate increase the cause of revolutions, 147; firm, what, 159

Stealing, how to be prevented, 44

Submission to government, when it is slavery, 206

Supreme power should be ultimately vested in the laws, 101

Syracuse, the government of, languid, 151

Temperance in a man different from a woman, 74

Temples, how to be built, 223

Thales, his contrivance to get money, 21; supposed to be the companion of Onomacritus, 64

Things necessary to be known for the management of domestic affairs, 19, 20; necessary in the position of a city, 220

Tribunals, what different things they should have under their jurisdictions, 137

Tyrannies, how established, 168; how preserved, 174, 176; of short duration, 180; instances thereof, 180

Tyranny, what, 79; not natural, 103; whence it arises, 108; treated of, 124; contains all that is bad in all governments, 125

Tyrant, from whom usually chosen, 167; his object, 168; his guards, 168

Tyrants, many of them originally enjoyed only kingly power, 168; the causes of their being conspired against, 169, 170; always love the worst of men, 175

Uses of possessions, two, 15

Usury detested, 19

Venality to be guarded against, IDS

Village, what, 3

Virtue of a citizen has reference to the state, 71; different in different governments, 71

Virtues different in different persons, 23, 24; whether the same constitute a good man and a valuable citizen, 71

Walls necessary for a city, 222

War, what is gained by it in some degree a natural acquisition, 14; not a final end, 205, 229

Wife, the proper government of, 22

Women, what their proper virtue, 23; not to be indulged in improper liberties, 52; had great influence at Lacedaemon, 52; of great disservice to the Lacedemonians, 52; why indulged by them, 53; their proper time of marrying, 233; how to be managed when with child, 234

Zaleucus, legislator of the Western Locrians, 64; supposed to be the scholar of Thales, 64

THE END

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