ิbut since no such comparison can be made, it is evident that there is good reason why in politics men do not ground their claim to office on every sort of inequality any more than in the arts. for if some be slow, and others swift, that is no reason why the one should have little and the others much; it is in gymnastics contests that such excellence is rewarded. whereas the rival claims of candidates for office can only be based on the possession of elements which enter into the composition of a state. and therefore the noble, or free-born, or rich, may with good reason claim office; for holders of offices must be freemen and taxplayers: a state can be no more composed entirely of poor men than entirely of slaves. But if wealth and freedom are necessary elements, justice and valor are equally so; for without the former qualities a state cannot exists at all, without the latter not well