ust and
useful to the individual, though probably it is as clear that it is not
entirely just: for in a well-governed state there may be great doubts
about the use of it, not on account of the pre-eminence which one may
have in strength, riches, or connection: but when the pre-eminence is
virtue, what then is to be done? for it seems not right to turn out and
banish such a one; neither does it seem right to govern him, for that
would be like desiring to share the power with Jupiter and to govern
him: nothing then remains but what indeed seems natural, and that is for
all persons quietly to submit to the government of those who are thus
eminently virtuous, and let them be perpetually kings in the separate
states.

CHAPTER XIV

What has been now said, it seems proper to change our subject and to
inquire into the nature of monarchies; for we have already admitted them
to be one of those species of government which are properly founded. And
here let us consider whether a kingly government is proper for a city or
a country whose principal object is the happiness of the inhabitants,
or rather some other. But let us first determine whether this is of one
kind only, or more; [1285a] and it is easy to know that it consists of
many different species, and that the forms of government are not the
same in all: for at Sparta the kingly power seems chiefly regulated by
the laws; for it is not supreme in all circumstances; but when the king
quits the territories of the state he is their general in war; and all
religious affairs are entrusted to him: indeed the kingly power with
them is chiefly that of a general who cannot be called to an account for
his conduct, and whose command is for life: for he has not the power
of life and death, except as a general; as they frequently had in
their expeditions by martial law, which we learn from Homer; for when
Agamemnon is affronted in council, he restrains his resentment, but when
he is in the field and armed with this power, he tells the Greeks:

"Whoe'er I know shall shun th' impending fight,
To dogs and vultures soon shall be a prey; For death is mine...."

This, then, is one species of monarchical government in which the kingly
power is in a general for life; and is sometimes hereditary, sometimes
elective: besides, there is also another, which is to be met with among
some of the barbarians, in which the kings are invested with powers
nearly equal to a tyranny, yet are, in