politics

Chapter 50 Volume (E) Five (8)
If this custom has been violated, and excessive honors have been granted suddenly to someone, 15 remember not to deprive them suddenly, but only slowly and successively. Both Themistocles and Lysander of Sparta were deposed temporarily when they were in high positions, which was very detrimental to the state.These deeds were well known to Aristotle, and therefore have the warning of this section (see "New School", IV 391-392 page notes). .It should be especially noted that if a city-state has a suitable legal system, no one can obtain special powers by virtue of his wealth or friends, and will not become a hidden danger to the state.If it cannot be prevented in advance, and someone has become a hidden danger to the state, he must be forced to go abroad to avoid future troubles. 1308b10-19 is compared with 1302b15-21 and 1307a2-5. .

20（八）（子）人们变成革命家同他的私人生活也是相关的。为此可以设立一种监督私人生活的职司，对那些在私生活上与现行政体不相协调的人们进行监督：谁在寡头政体中不守寡头生活的常态，谁在平民政体中却放浪于非民主的生活，谁在其他类型的政体中违背了那里通常的习俗1308b20—24与1305b39—1306a9对照。。（丑）与对私人生活特殊的人们应该进行监督相似，对于在一邦之中任何时刻特别兴盛起来的部分25（阶级）也应该加以注意。对于这一部分人可能引起的后患的预防和治疗，是（甲）把事权和官职经常授给那和它相反的部分即数量和品质，也就是富人和贫民的区别，使两个部分持平，对贫富进行协调，（乙）设法加强中产（中间）阶级的力量和数目。这样的政策可以消除由那个尤其兴盛的不平衡部分来发动变革的危机301308b24—30与1302b33—1303a13、1304a17—38、1306b36—1307a2对照。。

(35) The most important rule of governance is that all regimes must formulate a legal system, arrange their economic system, and create opportunities for the ruling and subordinate officials to seek personal gain under the guise of public office.Oligarchies should pay more attention to corruption.40 People don’t necessarily feel annoyed that they can’t hold public office, they are even happy to be in charge of the family business and ignore official duties; but once they hear that public officials are embezzling public funds, they hate it deeply, and feel that they have lost money in terms of fame and fortune.If this arrangement were effected, the private interests of those who hold office would be denied, and the plebeian and aristocratic regimes would be able to unite, and only in this way could they be united. 1309 Through such an arrangement, the common people and the aristocracy could find their own place and enjoy their own comfort.It is in line with the principle of civilian government that all citizens here can hold public office; in [-]α, the fact that all the people holding public office are famous (nobility) figures is in line with the principle of aristocratic government.Because official positions cannot make money, one regime can have the principles of two regimes at the same time.

Because public office is unprofitable, the poor prefer to manage their own trades rather than public office; 5 and the rich, because they do not need public money to support themselves, can accept the name and position and thus perform their duties for the city.So the poor can gradually prosper their family business by virtue of their diligence and concentration, and thus become rich; the aristocracy will not be ruled by people of high or low status, and it is enough to feel relieved.In order to prevent public funds from being embezzled, all collectors should pay in public in the public office. Greek Political System, Volume 47, 1431), Delos (Dietenberg: "Greek Epistles" No. 367), financial officials related to temple religious affairs must account for accounts in the council. , 10 and the accounts are to be duplicated so that they can be deposited in divisions, clans and clans respectively. "Zongshe" and "tribe" are clan organizations, see Volume 1264 7a[-] which indicates that "division" (λóχο) is a military and political regional organization.

The whole state of Sparta is divided into six "districts" (μóρα) (Xenophon: "Republic of Rageni" xi 47), and each district is divided into four or five "partitions" ("Herodotus" ix 53 Wait).The number of fighters assembled in each division is approximately equal to the current squadron, and each division is equivalent to a "tribe". Four or five squadrons are combined into an alliance, see Volume 1277 12b1308.The number of "citizens-soldiers" in each district recorded in various books varies, or four hundred, or seven hundred, or nine hundred. .In order to ensure that any officials do not seek personal gain through extortion, bribery and other methods, the regulations should be formulated to reward officials who are known for their honesty.The corruption of government officials in Godila once led to serious civil strife throughout the country ("Thucydides" iii 31).Plato: "Utopia" 1309A, said that at that time poor people from all states in Greece often competed for public office to enrich their private pockets, so they formed factions and disputes, and eventually lost their reputations and endangered political affairs.There was no salary for public office in ancient Greece, and there were many corruptions, so Aristotle made the prohibition of corruption the first priority. .

(15) Finally, a corresponding but different law may be given for commonwealths and oligarchies. 20 To protect the rich, the civilian government should not only not divide their property, but also protect the income they get from the property; the method of secretly reducing the rich's property should not be adopted.Compelled, even voluntary, acts of lavish donations of no benefit to the public should be prevented, which, in layman's terms, are like theater troupes (choruses) without necessary equipment. It is a troupe donation and a ship donation.Donation of ships is not mentioned here because Aristotle considered it necessary.The troupe donated a large amount. Lucias: "Speech Collection" No. 2332, Chapter 20, mentioned that the wealthy family who served as the leader (manager) of a tragic chorus had contributed as much as [-] Trachmas (see Hull Mann: Stories of Greece iii [-], Muller's Stories of the Greek Stage). , torchwalking and other similar obligations, [-] can also be said to be a good policy.On the other hand, in the case of oligarchy, serious attention should be paid to the interests of the poor.

The poor should be given as much as possible to the poor as far as possible those duties from which small rewards can be derived; and if the rich abuse the poor, the punishment is more severe than that of the rich who abuses the rich.The inheritance must be paid to the heirs who should be heirs in accordance with the stipulations of kinship succession, and the inheritance cannot be passed on arbitrarily by means of donation; 25 and no one can let him inherit a second inheritance.In this way, the distribution of industry may be more even, and the lives of more poor children and grandchildren can become well-off.Apart from these proposals concerning property, others, such as decency and honor, should seek equality between rich and poor, and should even give a slight preference to classes with lesser political rights,30 that is, in oligarchy, the common people, Give rich houses a slight priority in civilian government.The supreme power of the city-state government, the "supreme political power", according to Volume 1279 17b1290 and Volume 33 1309a14, etc., should belong to the deliberative institutions, such as the council, the citizens' assembly, etc.; here, in fact, it refers to the highest administrative power in the city-state mechanism.Should not be included in this provision; these important offices should only be filled by citizens with full political rights, at least most of them 20a1304-20 cf. 1305b7-1309a20. 32a1305-38 is compared with 1a[-]-b[-]. .

Chapter [-] is based on the annotations of Bakker’s translation, and the ten paragraphs analyzed in the previous chapter are called “Ten ‘special’ laws (methods) for maintaining the city-state regime”.This chapter, extended from the "supreme power of the government" mentioned in the last sentence of the previous chapter, continues to state the prescriptions for medical and political diseases, which are more extensive than before, talking about "'universal' laws (methods)"; It is limited to the previous chapters of this volume and extends to the previous volumes.

If a person wants to hold the highest office and the highest power in a state, he must meet three conditions: first, he must be loyal to the current administrative system,35 second, he must have the extraordinary ability to perform his duties, and third, he must have the virtues suitable for the political system. Those who rule with justice should pay equal attention to talent and morality, see volume 1284 6a60. "Thucydides" ii430, Pericles emphasized in his national disaster speech in 139 BC that talent and loyalty should be combined, and loyalty and integrity should be combined.Isocrates: "Panathenaicus" (Panathenaicus) 7, said that the rulers of the civilian city-states should be virtuous and loyal to the constitution.But the Athenians tend to focus on loyalty when electing their rulers (see Pseudo-Xenophon, "Republic of Athens" i19, ii1280).Goodness and justice go hand in hand, see volume three chapter nine 12b5.See Lysias: "Lectures", "Anti-Eratus Syne" [-]. .Of course, if the principles of justice in different regimes are different, there must be corresponding differences in the justice and morality of citizens in different states. The standard of justice (justice) varies with the type of regime. For details, see Chapter [-] and Chapter [-] of Volume [-].

Justice is one of the four virtues in Greece. In terms of politics, righteousness is more important than the other three virtues.Plato: The subtitle of this dialogue in "The Republic" is "On Justice" (περ δικαιοσυν).The so-called "justice of the regime" here refers to the "spirit" of creation, and "civic justice" refers to the "fairness" of the world, just as the Latin word "justitia" has both meanings of "righteousness" and "law".The Aristotelian political system is inherently a moral system.In all arguments, in addition to whether it is "legal", it must first be deduced whether it is "justified". .If a person cannot meet these three conditions, then there is a question of how to choose.For example, a person A meets the second condition and has general ability, but perhaps his moral character is not good, and he may not be loyal to the current political system, so he lacks two of the conditions. 40b A certain B is a loyal man, but he is not a good general.How should we choose?There are two aspects to consider: which are common qualities and which are rare talents.As far as military functions are concerned, the people we choose to take up this role must focus on combat experience, and take moral character as a secondary condition. General talents are rare in the world, and good virtues are easier to find.

5 In the case of managers of public property or treasurers, the principle of selection is just the opposite: the virtues required for such positions should exceed the conventional requirements, but the wisdom of calculating wealth is common to ordinary people.Regarding these three conditions, we still have a question: If a person already possesses talent and loyalty, the true meaning of "love and respect the regime" (s πολιεκ φλα), that is, "loyalty to the city-state".The following uses the "question" to answer the original question: Even if you have talent, if you have no moral character, you will cause problems in public affairs due to negligence, wantonness, corruption, etc.; city-state.The two conditions, isn't he already qualified for a public office corresponding to his character, 10 why is it necessary to meet the condition of goodness?However, isn't it very common in the world to have those two conditions but lack self-control?Even if this kind of person fully understands his private business and loves himself very much, he always does not take care of the housework well; similarly, although this kind of person fully understands public affairs and is willing to be loyal to it, will he be negligent everywhere? Newman commented on 1309a33 —b14 compared with Chapter 1302 5b10-1303 and 16a20-[-].But what is said in this section is actually wider than that of the two sections of Chapter Three. ?
15一般而言，政体建立各种法制，其目的就在于谋求城邦的长治久安；大家拥护这些法制，一个政体就可以维持不衰。我们曾多次讲到见卷二1270b21、卷四1294b37、1296b5；又，参看卷六1320a14。保全的前提在于保证一邦之内愿意维持这一政体的人数超过反对的人数纽曼注释以1309b14—18对照于1302b25—33、1305b2—22、36—39、1306a12—19和1306b22—1307a5。这一节承上节诸职司所需三个条件中第一条件，即效忠于现行政体，扩展至全国人而言，政府应该得到多数人的拥护（效忠）；其要旨详见于卷四章十二。。

There is another truth that should absolutely not be ignored, but it is precisely forgotten by many perverted regimes today, and this truth is "the golden mean (holding the middle) way". 20 Many measures that are considered populist are actually undermining the populist regime, and many measures that are considered oligarchic are actually undermining the oligarchy.Partisans adhering to these two political views both believe that their type of government is the only reasonable one, so they intensify their respective extremes.They didn't realize that a polity needs to be balanced, just as a nose should be symmetrical.If a person's nose deviates from the standard of integrity to a certain extent and resembles a hook nose or a snub nose, it still looks like a decent nose.But if the deformity is too much, it loses harmony with the rest of the face; if it is too deformed, it will eventually become extremely hooked or collapsed, and it will not look like a nose at all.Not just the nose, but other parts of the human body, and all forms of government. 25 Both oligarchy and plebeian regimes, while deviating from the ideal of good regimes, are still viable regimes after all.However, if the two advocates are too biased, this will gradually lead to abnormal changes in a political system, and eventually it will not become a political system at all.As far as "getting the support of the majority", if the government adopts a moderate policy, then the middle party will join the ruling party, and the government can often maintain its majority.Conversely, if the centrists combine with the opposition, the government will lose the support of the majority. .

(End of this chapter)