[1285a]
[1]
Now it is at all events easy to discern that kingship includes several kinds,
and that the mode of government is not the same in all. For the kingship in the
Spartan constitution, which is held to be a typical royalty of the kind guided
by law, does not carry sovereignty in all matters, though when a king goes on a
foreign expedition he is the leader in all matters relating to the war; and also
matters relating to religion have been assigned to the kings. This kingship
therefore is a sort of military command vested in generals with absolute powers
and held for life; for the king has not authority to put a subject to death,
except [in a certain reign]1 as in ancient times kings on their military
expeditions could kill an offender out of hand, as Homer proves, for Agamemnon
endured being reviled in the assemblies but when they were on an expedition had
authority to put a man to death: at all events he says“
But whomsoe'er I see far from the fray . . .
Shall have no hope to fly from dogs and vultures,
For death is in my hands!2
”
This
then is one sort of kingship, a lifelong generalship, and some of the kingships
of this kind are hereditary, others elective; and by its side there is another
sort of monarchy, examples of which are kingships existing among some of the
barbarians. The power possessed by all of these resembles that of tyrannies, but
they govern according to law and are hereditary;
[20]
for because the barbarians are more servile in their nature
than the Greeks, and the Asiatics than the Europeans, they endure despotic rule
without any resentment. These kingships therefore are for these reasons of a
tyrannical nature, but they are secure because they are hereditary and rule by
law. Also their bodyguard is of a
royal and not a tyrannical type for the same reason; for kings are guarded by
the citizens in arms, whereas tyrants have foreign guards, for kings rule in
accordance with law and over willing subjects, but tyrants rule over unwilling
subjects, owing to which kings take their guards from among the citizens but
tyrants have them to guard against the citizens. These then are two kinds of monarchy; while another is
that which existed among the ancient Greeks, the type of rulers called
aesymnetae. This, to put it simply, is an elective tyranny, and
it differs from the monarchy that exists among barbarians not in governing
without the guidance of law but only in not being hereditary. Some holders of
this type of monarchy ruled for life, others until certain fixed limits of time
or until certain undertakings were ended, as for example the people of
Mitylene once elected Pittacus to
resist the exiles under the leadership of Antimenides and the poet Alcaeus.
That they elected Pittacus3 as tyrant is proved by
Alcaeus in one of his catches; for he rebukes the people because “
The base-born Pittacus they did set up
As tyrant of the meek and luckless city,
And all did greatly praise him.
”
1 Inexplicable, and omitted in one of the earliest editions; possibly βασιλείᾳ is to be emended to ἐλάσει‘except on some march-out.’
2 Quoted from Hom. Il. 2.391, but the last line is not in our Homer.
3 Pittacus held the office 587-579 B.C. He was one of the Seven Sages. Antimenides and Alcaeus were brothers.
Aristotle. Aristotle in 23 Volumes, Vol. 21, translated by H. Rackham. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1944.
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