There is an alternative view, one that Pocock traces to the Roman jurist
Gaius, who moved from a concept of the citizen as a political being
to the citizen as a legal being, existing in a world of persons, actions,
and things. The concept of “things” is the one that particularly makes
a difference. Aristotle’s citizens were, of course, concerned with things
(such as land or trade), but they did not act through the medium of things.
Quite to the contrary, “Aristotle’s citizens were persons acting on one