political equality should not be demanded, except on the basis of equality of service.808 Exploitation by the radical democracy was, in his eyes, as bad as the rule of a tyrant,809 and the ruthless individualism of the classes was no better.810 Like Plato, he would oppose to both of these the common interest, and would unite both masses and classes in the aim to realize the highest moral life for the individual through the state.811 He refuted the Sophist’s theory of social contract and of justice as a mere convention.812 As Stewart has observed he realized that “more powerful causes than the mere perception of material advantage brought men into social union and keep them in it.”813 Each citizen, he held, is not his own master, but all belong to the state. Each is a member (μόριον) of the social body, and the concern of each is naturally relative to the good of the whole.814
Aristotle’s further criticisms, of minor significance, on the suggestions of Phaleas and Plato for equality of possessions are as follows: They have taken no precautions to regulate population accordingly.815 They set no proper limit between luxury and penury for individual possessions.816 Plato’s system is not thoroughgoing, since it allows inequalities in personal property,