391 foll.]; succession of states, 8. 545 foll. (cp. Government, forms of): —existing states not one but many, 4. 423 A; nearly all corrupt, 6. 496; 7. 519, 520; 9. 592.
State. [The polity of which Plato ‘sketches the outline’ in the Republic may be analysed into two principal elements, I, an Hellenic state of the older or Spartan type, with some traits borrowed from Athens, II, an ideal city in which the citizens have all things in common, and the government is carried on by a class of philosopher rulers who are selected by merit. These two elements are not perfectly combined; and, as Aristotle complains (Pol. ii. 5, § 18), very much is left ill-defined and uncertain. —I. Like Hellenic cities in general, the number of the citizens is not to be great. The size of the state is limited by the requirement that ‘it shall not be larger or smaller than is consistent with unity.’ [The ‘convenient number’ 5040, which is suggested in the Laws (v. 737), is regarded by Aristotle (Pol. ii. 6, § 6) as an ‘enormous multitude.’] Again, the individual is subordinate to the state. When Adeimantus complains of the hard life which the citizens will lead, ‘like mercenaries in a garrison’ (4. 419), he is answered by Socrates that if the happiness of the whole is secured, the happiness of the parts will inevitably follow. Once more, war is supposed to be the normal condition of the state, and military service is imposed upon all. The profession of arms is the only one in which the citizen may properly engage. Trade is regarded as dishonourable:—‘those who are good for nothing else sit in the Agora buying and selling’ (2. 371 D); the warrior can spare no time for such an employment (ib. 374 C). [In the Laws Plato’s ideas enlarge; he thinks that peace is to be preferred to war (1. 628); and he speculates on the possibility of redeeming trade from reproach by compelling some of the best citizens to open a shop or keep a tavern (11. 918).]—In these respects, as well as in the introduction of common meals, Plato was probably influenced by the traditional ideal of Sparta [cp. Introd. p. clxx]. The Athenian element appears in the intellectual training of the citizens, and generally in the atmosphere of grace and refinement which they are to breathe (*see s.