The State, which is given by history, is therefore to come under the influence of a representation of its nature as a political body which is both ethical and rational. In the _Republic_ Plato puts in the mouth of Socrates the following sentiment: “Unless it happen that either philosophers acquire the kingly power in States, or those who are to-day called kings and potentates cultivate philosophy truly and sufficiently, and thus political power and philosophy [pg 048] become as one . . . there can be no deliverance from evil for States, nor ever, so I think, for the human race” (Bk. V, 473, C and D). When, however, it comes to a more detailed carrying out of the ideal of the civilized State, Plato and Aristotle betray remarkable embarrassment. First of all, their vision of the State of the future is not that of a community which embraces a whole nation, but is always just a copy of the Greek city-republic with appropriate improvements. That they think out their ideal within such narrow limits is historically intelligible, but for the development of the philosophical idea of the civilized State it is deplorable. One result of these narrow limits is that both are anxiously concerned to provide that the well-being of the city-republic shall not be endangered by the increase of the population. The number of the inhabitants is to be kept as far as possible always near the same figure. Aristotle is not frightened by the proposal that weakly children shall be allowed to die of hunger, and that unborn children shall be got rid of by intentional abortion. That the Spartan State, on the contrary, regards the increase of the population as desirable, and exempts a citizen from all imposts as soon as he has four children, does not seem to him to be reasonable. Again, just as these two thinkers cannot work themselves up to a general idea of a national State, so they are unable to reach the idea of mankind. They make a strict line of division between the unfree on the one side, and the free on the other. The former they regard merely as creatures made for work, who are to maintain the material well-being of the State. What becomes of them as human beings is to them a matter of very little interest. Such beings as they are not meant to have any share in the growth towards perfection which is to be brought about by means of the civilized State. Slavery was, indeed, attacked now and again by the Sophists from their point of view, not, however, on the [pg 049] ground of humanity but from a desire to raise doubts about the accepted justification of existing institutions. Aristotle defends it as a natural arrangement, but recommends kindly treatment.