POLITICS OF ARISTOTLE

,VOTES, L'OOZ; l'Z. 4. 239

hiyo 62 npiqv &arirp :v TLS GrE'Aor TO^ Gjpovs' Bc'Xrruros yhp 6ijpos 4. I.

6 Y(opyi~& E)OTLY, Surf rai rorriv ir8iXwar Sqporpariav, Gnov crj r6

7qto~ did yropyh $ vopfjs.

oorifp liv TW K.T.X. is the explanation of vp'pr;r?v, I call it the first,

,neaning that which comes first in the classification of demo-

cracies,' because it is the best and most natural, implied in B;XriuroQ

The commentators require the ad-

dition of PfXTiury which may be supplied from BiXrruros. Or

tlristotle may mean, that you can have a democracy (though not

commonly found to exist) among a rustic population, for that is

the very best material of a democracy.

Aristotle is here speaking not of nomadic

tribes 'cultivating their living farm' (i. 8. 6), who are far from

being the most peaceable of mortals, not of an exclusively pastoral

life at all (cp. Q 11 infra), but of the tending of cattle as one of the

ordinary pursuits of an agricultural population.

yhp B~~os.

&%xwaL Gqpxpariav.

dsb yropyius fi voptip.

8d U;Y y&p rb pfi nohhfiv ohluv ~xfw dUXOXOS, GUTf PI) TOXXdKlS 4. 2.

;KXX?)ULd[fLV' 8d 6; Tb pi ?xflU T&VRyKaiR SPAS TOTS ;(PYOlS ~LQT~~~~OUUL KQi

7L;v dhXorpiov OAK &tQupohv.

It may appear strange that their being poor should be 3 reason

\ihy people do not desire the property of others. But though

3 little paradoxical the meaning is clear. Aristotle is describing a

population which having little or no independent means, is ab-

abed in labour, and can only obtain through their labour the

Imeisaries of life ; they are patient as well as industrious, and too

bus)' to covet the property of others.

~fi~ pi psrixouc rijs aipCuros TGV dpxiv dXhd Tim aipfroi KQT~ pCp0~ 4. 4.
~~WOV, 6ump :v ~~uunvfi~.
These words probably mean that a body of representatives
elected the magistrates, this body consisting of persons elected in
turn, or by sections out of all the citizens. A similar principle
adopted in the constitution of TelecIes the Milesian (iv. 14.
4 1h in which the citizens were to deliberate by turns, as here they
elect by turns.