Book 2
1
Right administration of a household demands in the first place familiarity with the sphere of one’s actionOr,the localities wherein we work.; in the second Place, good natural endowments; and in the third, an uprights and industrious way of life. For the lack of any one of these qualifications will involve many a failure in the task one takes in hand.
1
Of such administrations there are four main types, under which all others may be classified. We have the administration of a king; of the governors under him; of a free state; and of a private citizen.
2
Of these, that of a king is the most extensive, yet at the same time the simplest. A governor’s office is also very extensive, but divided into a great variety of departments. The administration of a free state is again very varied, but it is the easiest to conduct; while that, of a private individual presents the like variety, but within limits which are narrowest of all. For the most part, all four will of necessity cover the same ground; we will, however, take them in turn, and see what is especially characteristic of each.
2
Taking first the royal administration, we see that while theoretically its power is unlimited, it is in practice concerned with four departments, namely currency, exports, imports, and expenditure.
3
Taking these severally, I assign to that of currency the seasonable regulation of prices; to imports and exports, the profitable disposition, at any given time, of the dues received from provincial governors; and to expenditure, the reduction of outgoings as occasion may serve, and the question of meeting expenses by currency or by commodities.
4
The second kind of administration, that of the governor, is concerned with six different classes of revenue; those, namely, arising from agriculture, from the special products of the country, from markets, from taxes, from cattle, and from other sources.
