POLITICS OF ARISTOTLE

(Wang) #1
.VOTES, BOOK /r. 7. 67
a,,d Hippodamus ; ' philosophers ' such as Pittacus or perhaps
pyrhagoras ; ' statesmen ' such as solon or Lycurgus (cp. infra,
c. 12. $ I).
alb @ohias d Xah+broS TOh' flUjUCyKF iTp&OS. 7. 2,
A Sentence apparently inconsequential but really a condensation
of tTvO propositions. ' Therefore Phaleas the Chalcedonian intro-
duced this, sc. the regulation of property, he being the first to
do it.'
The manner
in nbich Aristotle speaks of him in this passage (8 z +pi ydp, 5 8
rlr;~l &P i ~~hias, orrrnt ydp) would lead us to the inference that he
n.aj not a legislator but the writer of a book; and this inference is
further confirmed by c. 12. 8 I, in which Aristotle (?) places first,
:ind in a class by themselves, the private individuals who had
trcated of lams, apparently meaning Phaleas and Hippod amus.
\Yhether Phaleas was earlier than Hippodamus is uncertain. It
is true that Hippodamus is described as the first of those not
statesmen who treated of the best state,' c. 8, $ I. But the stress
ma). be laid on the words rep1 r+ nohrrrr'as njr dpiunp, 'Hippodamus
was the first, not of political writers, but the first who treated of
the perfect state' which would be consistent with the claim of
Phaleas to be an earlier writer on the subject of politics in general.
We cannot argue with Grote (Pt. 11. c. 6, vol. ii. p. 523) that
because Phaleas was the first who wrote or speculated about the
equal division of land, therefore the legislation of Lycurgus or the
ancient Dorian institutions may not have anticipated him in fact.

xothing is known of Phaleas from other sources.

KaroiKi(op'uais, sc. rois r6hm or rohlra'atq, an emphatic present, 7. 3.
' vhen in process of settlement.'
74 r& spokas rod9 p;v nhouoiovr 8166~~ plu happ6vrtu 62 pi K.T.X.
cp. the Babylonian marriage-market ' in Hdt. i. 196.









:PYoy YAP pi u€forfpG7rolo~s fbaL TObS TOL0;70US. 7. 5.
With this passage compare v. 12. 17 where Aristotle criticizes
rather captiously the remark of Plato ' that loss of fortune is a
SWrce Of revolutions,' to which he replies that it is only dangerous
\'hen it affects the leaders of the state.'
F2

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