287
Str. The art of the king, then, has been separated from most of the kindred arts, or rather from all the arts that have to do with herds. There remain, however, the arts that have to do with the state itself. These are both causes and contingent causes, and our first duty is to separate them from one another.
287
Y. Soc. Quite right.
287
Str. It is not easy to divide them into halves, you know. But I think the reason will nevertheless be clear as we go on.
287
Y. Soc. Then we had better divide in another way.
287
Str. Let us divide them, then, like an animal that is sacrificed, by joints, since we cannot bisect them; for we must always divide into a number of parts as near two as possible.
287
Y. Soc. How shall we do it in the present instance?
287
Str. Just as in the previous case, you know, we classed all the arts which furnished tools for weaving as contingent causes.
287
Y. Soc. Yes.
287
Str. So now we must do the same thing, but it is even more imperative. For all the arts which furnish any implement, great or small, for the state, must be classed as contingent causes; for without them neither state nor statesmanship could ever exist, and yet I do not suppose we shall reckon any of them as the work of the kingly art.
287
Y. Soc. No.
287
Str. We shall certainly be undertaking a hard task in separating this class from the rest; for it might be said that everything that exists is the instrument of something or other, and the statement seems plausible. But there are possessions of another kind in the state, about which I wish to say something.
287
Y. Soc. What do you wish to say?
287
Str. That they do not possess this instrumental function. For they are not, like tools or instruments, made for the purpose of being causes of production, but exist for the preservation of that which has been produced.
287
Y. Soc. What is this class of possessions?
