Politeia Quotes

Aristotle's enthusiasm for the preservation of social distinction and his emphasis on the social position of the "high-souled” man remind us that even in his favored politeia, with as many respectable and steady men of the middle class admitted to political participation as is possible, Aristotle hankered after the rule of true, that is, natural aristocrats. If that attitude is not unknown two and a half millennia later, his unconcern with those left out of this vision of the world-women, ordinary working people, foreigners, slaves-is happily rather less common. But we shall not see much sympathy for ordinary lives and ordinary happiness for many centuries yet, certainly not in the work of Cicero. (Alan Ryan)