27. Ἐπεὶ δὲ κ.τ.λ. The First Book ends. καὶ πρῶτον ἐπισκεψώμεθα περὶ τῶν ἀποφηναμένων περὶ τῆς πολιτείας τῆς ἀρίστης. The Second begins by premising that Aristotle's aim is to inquire what form of political union is best for those most favourably circumstanced–a fact which had not been stated before—and then proceeds to argue that this involves a preliminary review of ‘other constitutions than that to be propounded by Aristotle’ (τὰς ἄλλαρ πολιτείας), whether actual working constitutions (termed κύριαι in 2. 12. 1274 b 27) held to be well-ordered, or schemes in good repute put forward by individual inquirers. The two passages are evidently not in strict sequence. The opening paragraph of the Second Book is not perhaps absolutely inconsistent with the closing words of the First, inasmuch as all that is said at the close of the latter book is that those who have put forward views with regard to the best constitution will be first dealt with, but it appears to ignore them. In c. 12. 1273 b 27 sqq. the plan of the book is still further extended to include a notice of οἱ ἀποφηνάμενοί τι περὶ πολιτείας generally, and even of who were the authors of laws only and not of constitutions.

Tibi, mi Buechelere, quod olim haec Epicurea utut sunt manibus emissa inscripsi, non id solum fateor mihi consilium fuisse, ut amicitiae quinque tunc lustris firmatae aliquod publice extaret monumentum, sed etiam ut in harenam, in qua egregia uirtutis specimina non semel edidisti, cui haud scio an nemo nunc magis quam tu idoneus sit, quasi gladiatorem spectatum te reducerem. tardius uota solui quam uellem. quod quibus rerum et casuum inpedimentis euenerit, neque tu nescis neque aliorum interest scire. nunc ueniam dabis, cum librum primo festinatum, deinde amplius quattuor annorum quasi obliuione quadam omissum tandem aliquando absolutum manibus tuis trado. quem uellem dignum esse nomine tuo.

Epicuro ut operam darem, non philosophiae Epicureae me admiratio commouit, sed ut accidit homini grammatico, librorum a Laertio Diogene seruatorum obscuritas et difficultas. quos cum iterum iterumque desperatos de manibus posuissem, ecce Maximilianus Bonnetus ante hos decem annos Hermanni Dielsii rogatu codices Laertii Parisienses perscrutatus specimen eorum adhibitis simul libris Italicis epistulae Epicuri primae lectionem proposuit in musei Rhenani t. XXXII (1877) p. 583 sqq. quod auxilium dum ego quantum lucis libro obscuro adferat experior, miratus simul et laetatus locis non paucis uidi interpolationis labe abstersa sententiam sanam et genuina scriptoris uerba enitescere. igitur intellegendi scriptoris et emendandi spes iam non eludebatur.

INTRODUCTION

The Politics linked to the Nicomachean Ethics—the transition from the latter treatise to the former examined.

Aristotle's treatment of the science of πολιτική falls, Plato's, into two distinct parts, and extends over two treatises, the Nicomachean Ethics and the Politics. The fact is significant, and we are not surprised to find the two sections show, as we shall see hereafter, a certain tendency to draw away from each other. They stand, however, in the closest mutual relation : the Ethics comes first in order, the Politics second. The Ethics naturally precedes, as it mainly analyses happiness in the individual, and Aristotle's principle is that the study of the part (τò ελáχιστον, τò ἀσúνθετον) should precede the study of the whole. Other reasons for the precedence of the Ethics will be pointed out elsewhere.

The transition from the one treatise to the other, however, is by no means as smooth and easy as we might expect. We are told in the last chapter of the Ethics that it is not enough for the student of Practical Philosophy to know what happiness and virtue and pleasure are without seeking their realization in practice, and that they can hardly be realized in practice without the aid of Law. The State, Aristotle continues, should use Law with a view to their realization, but the Lacedaemonian State is almost the only one which does this systematically, and which exercises a supervision over the rearing and life of its members. The head of the household is almost everywhere left to him pleases.