- Source
- Aristotle. Aristotelis Politica. Ross, William David, editor. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1957 (printing).
- Translation
- AI-generated (gemini-3.5-flash) — machine translation; may contain errors
- Languages
- 日本語 · English · 简体中文 · 한국어
- CTS URN
- urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0086.tlg035.humanitext-grc2:7.1324b
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-10-31
The author presents the view that dominating neighbors is the sole purpose of constitutions and lists warrior customs from Macedonia and Scythia. He then criticizes unlawful rule and the desire to dominate everyone without a natural basis of who is fit to be ruled, arguing that this is not the true function of a politician.
οἱ μὲν οὖν οὕτως ὑπολαμβάνουσιν, οἱ δὲ τὸν δεσποτικὸν καὶ τυραννικὸν τρόπον τῆς πολιτείας εἶναι μόνον εὐδαίμονά φασιν. παρʼ ἐνίοις δὲ καὶ τῆς πολιτείας οὗτος ὅρος καὶ τῶν νόμων ὅπως δεσπόζωσι1 τῶν πέλας. διὸ καὶ τῶν πλείστων νομίμων χύδην ὡς εἰπεῖν κειμένων παρὰ τοῖς πλείστοις, ὅμως εἴ πού τι πρὸς ἓν οἱ νόμοι βλέπουσι, τοῦ κρατεῖν στοχάζονται πάντες, ὥσπερ ἐν Λακεδαίμονι καὶ Κρήτῃ πρὸς τοὺς πολέμους συντέτακται σχεδὸν ἥ τε παιδεία καὶ τὸ τῶν νόμων πλῆθος· ἔτι δʼ ἐν τοῖς ἔθνεσι πᾶσι τοῖς δυναμένοις πλεονεκτεῖν ἡ τοιαύτη τετίμηται δύναμις, οἷον ἐν Σκύθαις καὶ Πέρσαις καὶ Θρᾳξὶ καὶ Κελτοῖς. ἐν ἐνίοις γὰρ καὶ νόμοι τινές εἰσι παροξύνοντες πρὸς τὴν ἀρετὴν ταύτην, καθάπερ ἐν Καρχηδόνι φασὶ τὸν ἐκ τῶν κρίκων κόσμον λαμβάνειν ὅσας ἂν στρατεύσωνται στρατείας· ἦν δέ ποτε καὶ περὶ Μακεδονίαν νόμος τὸν μηθένα ἀπεκταγκότα πολέμιον ἄνδρα περιεζῶσθαι τὴν φορβειάν·2 ἐν δὲ Σκύθαις οὐκ ἐξῆν πίνειν ἐν ἑορτῇ τινι σκύφον περιφερόμενον τῷ μηθένα ἀπεκταγκότι πολέμιον· ἐν δὲ τοῖς Ἴβηρσιν, ἔθνει πολεμικῷ, τοσούτους τὸν ἀριθμὸν ὀβελίσκους καταπηγνύουσι περὶ τὸν τάφον ὅσους ἂν διαφθείρῃ τῶν πολεμίων· καὶ ἕτερα δὴ παρʼ ἑτέροις ἔστι τοιαῦτα πολλά, τὰ μὲν νόμοις κατειλημμένα τὰ δὲ ἔθεσιν. καίτοι δόξειεν ἂν ἄγαν ἄτοπον ἴσως εἶναι τοῖς βουλομένοις ἐπισκοπεῖν, εἰ τοῦτʼ ἐστὶν ἔργον τοῦ πολιτικοῦ, τὸ δύνασθαι θεωρεῖν ὅπως ἄρχῃ καὶ δεσπόζῃ τῶν πλησίον, καὶ βουλομένων καὶ μὴ βουλομένων. πῶς γὰρ ἂν εἴη τοῦτο πολιτικὸν ἢ νομοθετικόν, ὅ γε μηδὲ νόμιμόν ἐστιν; οὐ νόμιμον δὲ τὸ μὴ μόνον δικαίως ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀδίκως ἄρχειν, κρατεῖν δʼ ἔστι καὶ μὴ δικαίως. ἀλλὰ μὴν οὐδʼ ἐν ταῖς ἄλλαις ἐπιστήμαις τοῦτο ὁρῶμεν· οὔτε γὰρ τοῦ ἰατροῦ οὔτε τοῦ κυβερνήτου ἔργον ἐστὶ τὸ ἢ πεῖσαι ἢ βιάσασθαι τοῦ μὲν τοὺς θεραπευομένους τοῦ δὲ τοὺς πλωτῆρας. ἀλλʼ ἐοίκασιν οἱ πολλοὶ τὴν δεσποτικὴν πολιτικὴν οἴεσθαι εἶναι, καὶ ὅπερ αὑτοῖς ἕκαστοι οὔ φασιν εἶναι δίκαιον οὐδὲ συμφέρον, τοῦτʼ οὐκ αἰσχύνονται πρὸς τοὺς ἄλλους ἀσκοῦντες· αὐτοὶ μὲν γὰρ παρʼ αὑτοῖς τὸ δικαίως ἄρχειν ζητοῦσι, πρὸς δὲ τοὺς ἄλλους οὐδὲν μέλει τῶν δικαίων. ἄτοπον δὲ εἰ μὴ φύσει τὸ μὲν δεσποστόν ἐστι τὸ δὲ οὐ δεσποστόν,3 ὥστε εἴπερ ἔχει τὸν τρόπον τοῦτον, οὐ δεῖ πάντων πειρᾶσθαι δεσπόζειν, ἀλλὰ τῶν δεσποστῶν, ὥσπερ οὐδὲ θηρεύειν ἐπὶ θοίνην ἢ θυσίαν ἀνθρώπους, ἀλλὰ τὸ πρὸς τοῦτο θηρευτόν· ἔστι δὲ θηρευτὸν ὃ ἂν ἄγριον ᾖ ἐδεστὸν ζῷον. ἀλλὰ μὴν εἴη γʼ ἂν καὶ καθʼ ἑαυτὴν μία πόλις εὐδαίμων,
Thus some assume in this way, while others say that only the despotic and tyrannical style of constitution is happy. And among some, this is the limit of both the constitution and the laws: how they may rule over their neighbors. Therefore, even though most of the legal regulations are laid down at random, so to speak, among most people, nevertheless, if the laws look to one thing anywhere, they all aim at dominating, just as in Lacedaemon and Crete nearly the whole education and the multitude of laws have been organized for wars. Further, among all nations that are able to gain advantage, such power is honored, as among the Scythians, Persians, Thracians, and Celts. For among some there are also certain laws incited toward this virtue, just as in Carthage they say that they receive the ornament of rings as many as the campaigns they may have campaigned. And there was once also a law in Macedonia that anyone who had killed no enemy man must wear a halter. Among the Scythians, it was not permitted for anyone who had killed no enemy to drink from a cup carried around at a certain festival. Among the Iberians, a warlike nation, they fix in the ground as many iron spits around the grave as the enemies he may have destroyed. And there are indeed many other such things among other peoples, some established by laws and others by customs. Yet it would perhaps seem extremely strange to those who wish to examine, if this is the work of a politician: to be able to contemplate how one may rule and despotize over neighbors, both willing and unwilling. For how could this be political or legislative, which is not even lawful? And it is not lawful to rule not only justly but also unjustly, and it is possible to dominate even unjustly. But indeed, we do not see this in the other sciences either; for neither is it the work of a physician nor of a helmsman either to persuade or to force, the former his patients, the latter his sailors. But the many seem to think that despotic rule is political, and what they say is not just or beneficial for themselves, they are not ashamed to practice toward others; for they seek for themselves to rule justly among themselves, but toward others they care nothing for what is just. And it is strange if it is not the case that by nature one thing is fit to be ruled despotically and another not fit to be ruled despotically, so that if it is in this way, one must not try to rule despotically over all, but over those fit to be ruled despotically, just as one must not hunt for a feast or sacrifice human beings, but what is huntable for this purpose; and what is huntable is whatever wild animal is edible. But indeed, even a single city by itself could be happy,
- 1324bὅπως δεσπόζωσι
A subordinate clause introduced by the conjunction ὅπως. Here it functions substantively, serving as an appositive to or clarifying the concrete content of the preceding phrase οὗτος ὅρος ("this limit/goal"), namely "how they may rule over their neighbors."
- 1324b15τὸν μηθένα ἀπεκταγκότα πολέμιον ἄνδρα περιεζῶσθαι τὴν φορβειάν
An accusative with infinitive construction. The subject is the accusative phrase τὸν μηθένα ἀπεκταγκότα πολέμιον ἄνδρα ("anyone who has killed no enemy man"), and the predicate is the perfect middle infinitive περιεζῶσθαι ("to wear/gird around oneself"), which takes τὴν φορβειάν ("halter/bridle") as its direct object.
- 1324b35εἰ μὴ φύσει τὸ μὲν δεσποστόν ἐστι τὸ δὲ οὐ δεσποστόν
A conditional clause introduced by "εἰ μὴ" (if not), assuming a counterfactual or absurd premise. Linked with the impersonal predicate "ἄτοπον [ἐστι]" ("it is strange/absurd"), this construction paradoxically reinforces the claim that there must indeed exist a natural distinction between what is fit to be ruled and what is not.