The Complete Aristotle (eng.)

he must before all things understand the subject of
legislation; for it is on a country’s laws that its whole welfare
depends. He must, therefore, know how many different forms of
constitution there are; under what conditions each of these will
prosper and by what internal developments or external attacks each
of them tends to be destroyed. When I speak of destruction through
internal developments I refer to the fact that all constitutions,
except the best one of all, are destroyed both by not being pushed
far enough and by being pushed too far. Thus, democracy loses its
vigour, and finally passes into oligarchy, not only when it is not
pushed far enough, but also when it is pushed a great deal too far;
just as the aquiline and the snub nose not only turn into normal
noses by not being aquiline or snub enough, but also by being too
violently aquiline or snub arrive at a condition in which they no
longer look like noses at all. It is useful, in framing laws, not
only to study the past history of one’s own country, in order to
understand which constitution is desirable for it now, but also to
have a knowledge of the constitutions of other nations, and so to
learn for what kinds of nation the various kinds of constitution
are suited. From this we can see that books of travel are useful
aids to legislation, since from these we may learn the laws and
customs of different races. The political speaker will also find
the researches of historians useful. But all this is the business
of political science and not of rhetoric.
    These, then, are the most important kinds of information which
the political speaker must possess. Let us now go back and state
the premisses from which he will have to argue in favour of
adopting or rejecting measures regarding these and other
matters.
5
    It may be said that every individual man and all men in common
aim at a certain end which determines what they choose and what
they avoid. This end, to sum it up briefly, is happiness and its
constituents. Let us, then, by way of illustration only, ascertain
what is in general the nature of happiness, and what are the
elements of its constituent parts. For all advice to do things or
not to do them is concerned with happiness and with the things that
make for or against it; whatever creates or increases happiness or
some part of happiness, we ought to do; whatever destroys or
hampers happiness, or gives rise to its opposite, we ought not to
do.
    We may define happiness as prosperity combined with virtue; or
as independence of life; or as the secure enjoyment of the maximum
of pleasure; or as a good condition of property and body, together
with the power of guarding one’s property and body and making use
of them. That happiness is one or more of these things, pretty well
everybody agrees.
    From this definition of happiness it follows that its
constituent parts are:-good birth, plenty of friends, good friends,
wealth, good children, plenty of children, a happy old age, also
such bodily excellences as health, beauty, strength, large stature,
athletic powers, together with fame, honour, good luck, and virtue.
A man cannot fail to be completely independent if he possesses
these internal and these external goods; for besides these there
are no others to have. (Goods of the soul and of the body are
internal. Good birth, friends, money, and honour are external.)
Further, we think that he should possess resources and luck, in
order to make his life really secure. As we have already
ascertained what happiness in general is, so now let us try to
ascertain what of these parts of it is.
    Now good birth in a race or a state means that its members are
indigenous or ancient: that its earliest leaders were distinguished
men, and that from them have sprung many who were distinguished for
qualities that we admire.
    The good birth of an individual, which may come either from the
male or the female side, implies that both parents are free
citizens, and that, as in the case of the state, the founders of
the line have been notable for virtue or wealth or something else
which is highly prized, and that many distinguished persons belong
to the family, men and women, young and old.
    The phrases ‘possession of good children’ and ‘of many children’
bear a quite clear meaning. Applied to a community, they mean that
its young men are numerous and of good a quality: good in regard to
bodily excellences, such as stature, beauty, strength, athletic
powers; and also in