Tuesday, April 1, 2014

Aristotle: "The most unholy and the most savage of animals"

"FOR man, when perfected, is the best of animals, but, when separated from law and justice, he is the worst of all; since armed injustice is the more dangerous, and he is equipped at birth with arms, meant to be used by intelligence and virtue, which he may use for the worst ends. Wherefore, if he have not virtue, he is the most unholy and the most savage of animals, and the most full of lust and gluttony. But justice is the bond of men in states, for the administration of justice, which is the determination of what is just, is the principle of order in political society."

~Aristotle: Politics, I, 2.

Aristotle: Works, by Girolamo da Cremona.
Manuscript (PML 21194, 2 vol.), 1483;
The Morgan Library and Museum, New York.

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