The Complete Aristotle (eng.)

the freeman is better than the life
of the despot; for there is nothing grand or noble in having the
use of a slave, in so far as he is a slave; or in issuing commands
about necessary things. But it is an error to suppose that every
sort of rule is despotic like that of a master over slaves, for
there is as great a difference between the rule over freemen and
the rule over slaves as there is between slavery by nature and
freedom by nature, about which I have said enough at the
commencement of this treatise. And it is equally a mistake to place
inactivity above action, for happiness is activity, and the actions
of the just and wise are the realization of much that is noble.
    But perhaps some one, accepting these premises, may still
maintain that supreme power is the best of all things, because the
possessors of it are able to perform the greatest number of noble
actions. if so, the man who is able to rule, instead of giving up
anything to his neighbor, ought rather to take away his power; and
the father should make no account of his son, nor the son of his
father, nor friend of friend; they should not bestow a thought on
one another in comparison with this higher object, for the best is
the most eligible and ‘doing eligible’ and ‘doing well’ is the
best. There might be some truth in such a view if we assume that
robbers and plunderers attain the chief good. But this can never
be; their hypothesis is false. For the actions of a ruler cannot
really be honorable, unless he is as much superior to other men as
a husband is to a wife, or a father to his children, or a master to
his slaves. And therefore he who violates the law can never recover
by any success, however great, what he has already lost in
departing from virtue. For equals the honorable and the just
consist in sharing alike, as is just and equal. But that the
unequal should be given to equals, and the unlike to those who are
like, is contrary to nature, and nothing which is contrary to
nature is good. If, therefore, there is any one superior in virtue
and in the power of performing the best actions, him we ought to
follow and obey, but he must have the capacity for action as well
as virtue.
    If we are right in our view, and happiness is assumed to be
virtuous activity, the active life will be the best, both for every
city collectively, and for individuals. Not that a life of action
must necessarily have relation to others, as some persons think,
nor are those ideas only to be regarded as practical which are
pursued for the sake of practical results, but much more the
thoughts and contemplations which are independent and complete in
themselves; since virtuous activity, and therefore a certain kind
of action, is an end, and even in the case of external actions the
directing mind is most truly said to act. Neither, again, is it
necessary that states which are cut off from others and choose to
live alone should be inactive; for activity, as well as other
things, may take place by sections; there are many ways in which
the sections of a state act upon one another. The same thing is
equally true of every individual. If this were otherwise, God and
the universe, who have no external actions over and above their own
energies, would be far enough from perfection. Hence it is evident
that the same life is best for each individual, and for states and
for mankind collectively
IV
    Thus far by way of introduction. In what has preceded I have
discussed other forms of government; in what remains the first
point to be considered is what should be the conditions of the
ideal or perfect state; for the perfect state cannot exist without
a due supply of the means of life. And therefore we must presuppose
many purely imaginary conditions, but nothing impossible. There
will be a certain number of citizens, a country in which to place
them, and the like. As the weaver or shipbuilder or any other
artisan must have the material proper for his work (and in
proportion as this is better prepared, so will the result of his
art be nobler), so the statesman or legislator must also have the
materials suited to him.
    First among the materials required by the statesman is
population: he will consider what should be the number and
character of the citizens, and then what should be the size and
character of the country. Most persons think that a state in order
to be happy ought to be large; but even if they are right, they
have no idea what is a large and what a small state. For they