But with respect to citizens there is a doubt remaining, whether those
only are truly so who are allowed to share in the government, or whether
the mechanics also are to be considered as such? for if those who are
not permitted to rule are to be reckoned among them, it is impossible
that the virtue of all the citizens should be the same, for these also
are citizens; and if none of them are admitted to be citizens, where
shall they be ranked? for they are neither [1278a] sojourners nor
foreigners? or shall we say that there will no inconvenience arise from
their not being citizens, as they are neither slaves nor freedmen:
for this is certainly true, that all those are not citizens who are
necessary to the existence of a city, as boys are not citizens in the
same manner that men are, for those are perfectly so, the others under
some conditions; for they are citizens, though imperfect ones: for
in former times among some people the mechanics were either slaves or
foreigners, for which reason many of them are so now: and indeed the
best regulated states will not permit a mechanic to be a citizen; but
if it be allowed them, we cannot then attribute the virtue we have
described to every citizen or freeman, but to those only who are
disengaged from servile offices. Now those who are employed by one
person in them are slaves; those who do them for money are mechanics
and hired servants: hence it is evident on the least reflection what is
their situation, for what I have said is fully explained by appearances.
Since the number of communities is very great, it follows necessarily
that there will be many different sorts of citizens, particularly
of those who are governed by others, so that in one state it may be
necessary to admit mechanics and hired servants to be citizens, but in
others it may be impossible; as particularly in an aristocracy, where
honours are bestowed on virtue and dignity: for it is impossible for
one who lives the life of a mechanic or hired servant to acquire the
practice of virtue. In an oligarchy also hired servants are not admitted
to be citizens; because there a man's right to bear any office is
regulated by his fortune; but mechanics are, for many citizens are very
rich.
There was a law at Thebes that no one could have a share in the
government till he had been ten years out of trade. In many states the
law invites strangers to accept the freedom of the city; and in some
democracies the son of a free-woman is himself free. The same is also
observed in many others with respect to natural children; but it is
through want of citizens regularly born that they admit such: for these
laws are always made in consequence of a scarcity of inhabitants; so,
as their numbers increase, they first deprive the children of a male or
female slave of this privilege, next the child of a free-woman, and last
of all they will admit none but those whose fathers and mothers were
both free.
That there are many sorts of citizens, and that he may be said to be as
completely who shares the honours of the state, is evident from what
has been already said. Thus Achilles, in Homer, complains of Agamemnon's
treating him like an unhonoured stranger; for a stranger or sojourner is
one who does not partake of the honours of the state: and whenever the
right to the freedom of the city is kept obscure, it is for the sake of
the inhabitants. [1278b] From what has been said it is plain whether the
virtue of a good man and an excellent citizen is the same or different:
and we find that in some states it is the same, in others not; and also
that this is not true of each citizen, but of those only who take the
lead, or are capable of taking the lead, in public affairs, either alone
or in conjunction with others.