Pagina 931 van 1391

Must we not acknowledge, I said, that in each of us there are the

same principles and habits which there are in the State; and that

from the individual they pass into the State?-how else can they

come there? Take the quality of passion or spirit;-it would be

ridiculous to imagine that this quality, when found in States, is

not derived from the individuals who are supposed to possess it,

e.g. the Thracians, Scythians, and in general the northern

nations; and the same may be said of the love of knowledge, which

is the special characteristic of our part of the world, or of the

love of money, which may, with equal truth, be attributed to the

Phoenicians and Egyptians.

Exactly so, he said.

There is no difficulty in understanding this.

None whatever.