The Complete Aristotle (eng.)

that every state consists, not of one,
but of many parts. If we were going to speak of the different
species of animals, we should first of all determine the organs
which are indispensable to every animal, as for example some organs
of sense and the instruments of receiving and digesting food, such
as the mouth and the stomach, besides organs of locomotion.
Assuming now that there are only so many kinds of organs, but that
there may be differences in them—I mean different kinds of mouths,
and stomachs, and perceptive and locomotive organs—the possible
combinations of these differences will necessarily furnish many
variedes of animals. (For animals cannot be the same which have
different kinds of mouths or of ears.) And when all the
combinations are exhausted, there will be as many sorts of animals
as there are combinations of the necessary organs. The same, then,
is true of the forms of government which have been described;
states, as I have repeatedly said, are composed, not of one, but of
many elements. One element is the food-producing class, who are
called husbandmen; a second, the class of mechanics who practice
the arts without which a city cannot exist; of these arts some are
absolutely necessary, others contribute to luxury or to the grace
of life. The third class is that of traders, and by traders I mean
those who are engaged in buying and selling, whether in commerce or
in retail trade. A fourth class is that of the serfs or laborers.
The warriors make up the fifth class, and they are as necessary as
any of the others, if the country is not to be the slave of every
invader. For how can a state which has any title to the name be of
a slavish nature? The state is independent and self-sufficing, but
a slave is the reverse of independent. Hence we see that this
subject, though ingeniously, has not been satisfactorily treated in
the Republic. Socrates says that a state is made up of four sorts
of people who are absolutely necessary; these are a weaver, a
husbandman, a shoemaker, and a builder; afterwards, finding that
they are not enough, he adds a smith, and again a herdsman, to look
after the necessary animals; then a merchant, and then a retail
trader. All these together form the complement of the first state,
as if a state were established merely to supply the necessaries of
life, rather than for the sake of the good, or stood equally in
need of shoemakers and of husbandmen. But he does not admit into
the state a military class until the country has increased in size,
and is beginning to encroach on its neighbor’s land, whereupon they
go to war. Yet even amongst his four original citizens, or whatever
be the number of those whom he associates in the state, there must
be some one who will dispense justice and determine what is just.
And as the soul may be said to be more truly part of an animal than
the body, so the higher parts of states, that is to say, the
warrior class, the class engaged in the administration of justice,
and that engaged in deliberation, which is the special business of
political common sense-these are more essential to the state than
the parts which minister to the necessaries of life. Whether their
several functions are the functions of different citizens, or of
the same—for it may often happen that the same persons are both
warriors and husbandmen—is immaterial to the argument. The higher
as well as the lower elements are to be equally considered parts of
the state, and if so, the military element at any rate must be
included. There are also the wealthy who minister to the state with
their property; these form the seventh class. The eighth class is
that of magistrates and of officers; for the state cannot exist
without rulers. And therefore some must be able to take office and
to serve the state, either always or in turn. There only remains
the class of those who deliberate and who judge between disputants;
we were just now distinguishing them. If presence of all these
elements, and their fair and equitable organization, is necessary
to states, then there must also be persons who have the ability of
statesmen. Different functions appear to be often combined in the
same individual; for example, the warrior may also be a husbandman,
or an artisan; or, again, the councillor a judge. And all claim to
possess political ability, and think that they are quite competent
to fill most offices. But the same persons cannot be rich and poor
at the same time. For this reason the rich and