eings, so without law and justice he would be the worst of all,
for nothing is so difficult to subdue as injustice in arms: but these
arms man is born with, namely, prudence and valour, which he may apply
to the most opposite purposes, for he who abuses them will be the most
wicked, the most cruel, the most lustful, and most gluttonous being
imaginable; for justice is a political virtue, by the rules of it the
state is regulated, and these rules are the criterion of what is right.

CHAPTER III

SINCE it is now evident of what parts a city is composed, it will be
necessary to treat first of family government, for every city is made
up of families, and every family [1253b] has again its separate parts of
which it is composed. When a family is complete, it consists of freemen
and slaves; but as in every subject we should begin with examining into
the smallest parts of which it consists, and as the first and smallest
parts of a family are the master and slave, the husband and wife, the
father and child, let us first inquire into these three, what each of
them may be, and what they ought to be; that is to say, the herile, the
nuptial, and the paternal. Let these then be considered as the three
distinct parts of a family: some think that the providing what is
necessary for the family is something different from the government of
it, others that this is the greatest part of it; it shall be considered
separately; but we will first speak of a master and a slave, that we
may both understand the nature of those things which are absolutely
necessary, and also try if we can learn anything better on this subject
than what is already known. Some persons have thought that the power of
the master over his slave originates from his superior knowledge, and
that this knowledge is the same in the master, the magistrate, and the
king, as we have already said; but others think that herile government
is contrary to nature, and that it is the law which makes one man a
slave and another free, but that in nature there is no difference; for
which reason that power cannot be founded in justice, but in force.

CHAPTER IV

Since then a subsistence is necessary in every family, the means of
procuring it certainly makes up part of the management of a family, for
without necessaries it is impossible to live, and to live well. As
in all arts which are brought to perfection it is necessary that they
should have their proper instrument