The Complete Aristotle (eng.)

given. Nor, again, can counsel be given about the
whole class of things which may or may not take place; for this
class includes some good things that occur naturally, and some that
occur by accident; and about these it is useless to offer counsel.
Clearly counsel can only be given on matters about which people
deliberate; matters, namely, that ultimately depend on ourselves,
and which we have it in our power to set going. For we turn a thing
over in our mind until we have reached the point of seeing whether
we can do it or not.
    Now to enumerate and classify accurately the usual subjects of
public business, and further to frame, as far as possible, true
definitions of them is a task which we must not attempt on the
present occasion. For it does not belong to the art of rhetoric,
but to a more instructive art and a more real branch of knowledge;
and as it is, rhetoric has been given a far wider subject-matter
than strictly belongs to it. The truth is, as indeed we have said
already, that rhetoric is a combination of the science of logic and
of the ethical branch of politics; and it is partly like dialectic,
partly like sophistical reasoning. But the more we try to make
either dialectic rhetoric not, what they really are, practical
faculties, but sciences, the more we shall inadvertently be
destroying their true nature; for we shall be re-fashioning them
and shall be passing into the region of sciences dealing with
definite subjects rather than simply with words and forms of
reasoning. Even here, however, we will mention those points which
it is of practical importance to distinguish, their fuller
treatment falling naturally to political science.
    The main matters on which all men deliberate and on which
political speakers make speeches are some five in number: ways and
means, war and peace, national defence, imports and exports, and
legislation.
    As to Ways and Means, then, the intending speaker will need to
know the number and extent of the country’s sources of revenue, so
that, if any is being overlooked, it may be added, and, if any is
defective, it may be increased. Further, he should know all the
expenditure of the country, in order that, if any part of it is
superfluous, it may be abolished, or, if any is too large, it may
be reduced. For men become richer not only by increasing their
existing wealth but also by reducing their expenditure. A
comprehensive view of these questions cannot be gained solely from
experience in home affairs; in order to advise on such matters a
man must be keenly interested in the methods worked out in other
lands.
    As to Peace and War, he must know the extent of the military
strength of his country, both actual and potential, and also the
mature of that actual and potential strength; and further, what
wars his country has waged, and how it has waged them. He must know
these facts not only about his own country, but also about
neighbouring countries; and also about countries with which war is
likely, in order that peace may be maintained with those stronger
than his own, and that his own may have power to make war or not
against those that are weaker. He should know, too, whether the
military power of another country is like or unlike that of his
own; for this is a matter that may affect their relative strength.
With the same end in view he must, besides, have studied the wars
of other countries as well as those of his own, and the way they
ended; similar causes are likely to have similar results.
    With regard to National Defence: he ought to know all about the
methods of defence in actual use, such as the strength and
character of the defensive force and the positions of the
forts-this last means that he must be well acquainted with the lie
of the country-in order that a garrison may be increased if it is
too small or removed if it is not wanted, and that the strategic
points may be guarded with special care.
    With regard to the Food Supply: he must know what outlay will
meet the needs of his country; what kinds of food are produced at
home and what imported; and what articles must be exported or
imported. This last he must know in order that agreements and
commercial treaties may be made with the countries concerned. There
are, indeed, two sorts of state to which he must see that his
countrymen give no cause for offence, states stronger than his own,
and states with which it is advantageous to trade.
    But while he must, for security’s sake, be able to take all this
into account,