IYOTES, BOOK 111. 17. 14.5
rrl mpt&rrpoi Klli mpi KUplOT~pOV riv ~arh ypdppasa wdpw oi KQT~ rh 16. 9.
;$ f;o;v, ;arc s& wrir ypdppara cb9pwros Zppw cio$aXiurepor, Ah'he defects of witten law are supplied not only by the judg-
ments of individuals but by tradition and precedent. In any com-
pxriion of the judgments of law and of individuals, these hnve to be
And in early times this unwritten
1.11~ is more sacred and important than written. Hence arises an
n&litionnl argument against the superiority of the indivitlual to the
IJW. For the importance of unwritten law cp. Thuc. ii. 37, r&rf dd
ir +xj n"vrow dKpoducr K:I~ r&v v6pow KU~ pthhiora air&w 0"uoi re c'~' &$ehiq
7;" i8rrovp'vwv Kcbi-ai KUIL &or aypaq5oi OXWTPS niu,@wqv 6pohoyoup;vqv
+ipouriu, and Rhet. i. 10, 1368 b. 7, h'yo 8; Orow paw KaO' Bv ycypap-
~;VOV mdrr&wrai, KOLW~ 62 ha Zypaga napir &ow 6poXoyc;dar GoK&o; r;v mrh sb ibb.to the credit of law.roirrov TAV ~pd~ov. 16. 9.
Referring to the words which have preceded-mrh sb lrhfiowar th
&E i's' obroS Ka$rumpiuous +,youras.In the whole of this passage Aristotle is pleading the cause of 16. 9-13.
the law against absolute monarchy. He shows that the law is not
liable to corruption, that its deficiencies are supplied by individuals,
that it trains up judges who decide not arbitrarily but according to
x rule, that many good men are better than one. Rut the monarch
too must have his ministers; he will surround himself by his
friends, and they will have ideas like his own. Thus the two
approximate to a certain extent. In either case the rulers must be
many and not one. Rut if so it is better to have the trained
subordinates of the law than the favorites of a despot.d TO&TOVS o&ar 8c;p i;pxE~v ro&s i'uour ~a'r d~oiuus +xav obrai Gciv 6polor. 16. 13.
Even in the nap/3auihcia there is an element of equality. dphr
either I) 'equally with himself'; or 2) with a slight play of words
' after the manner of equals.'
" p$ TpdROV TWd.
To be taken after cipiw~ better in a certain manner, i. e. the
Imaginary and rather absurd case, to which he returns in 5 5, of the
YOL. 11. L