Francesco PatriziLa città felice

Note: this translation is by Eugene E. Ryan.Comments, corrections, suggestions welcome.Please email to: ryane@mail.ecu.edu

Part 1On the nature of man

It is commonly agreed by philosophers that the human individual has two principal parts of its being. Onepart, the soul, because it is immortal and incorruptible [by all but universal agreement with only a fewholding the contrary], is alone sufficient to itself, having no need of external help for its maintenance. Theother part, the body, being material and composed of weak parts, is not alone sufficient for its ownconservation, but has need of many external things; first, that the soul care for and govern it; further that itnot be deprived of what it needs to eat and drink; it must also have something to cover it against the cold,the heat, and other qualities of the air that can do it harm. There must also be an abundance of all thethings whereby the needs just mentioned can be acquired: money, possessions, riches, and the like. Andsince a human individual alone is not able to acquire all of these, but needs the help of others, so it is eachone naturally desires and loves the company of other humans and considers this good and useful in itself.This affection is no less natural for humans than it is proper for them to be risible. It follows that whoeverdoes not love to associate with and to converse with other humans is necessarily either more or less than ahuman and as the old proverb says is a God or a beast.

And so it is that everything that arose from the beginning from the infinite goodness of God and came tobe in this lower world was aware of the memory of that good, which existing in the ideal being of thesupercelestial waters of that abyss, keeps them burning with desire and thirst in such a way thatincessantly and without ever coming to possess tranquility, they exhaust themselves in rediscovering thewaters which from above fall down on this world, and satisfy their intensely burning thirst; God has willedfor the remedy of that thirst that the aforementioned abyss of his goodness rain as many streams ofsupercelestial waters on the world as there are species in the universe, so that each from its own streamcan be abundantly freed from thirst. And since due to their corrupt nature humans are more troubled bythis thirst than any other creature; and since being guided by their blind will, they rarely or never find theirstream, the stream that flows from heaven more abundantly than for the other species, I have resolved todemonstrate to those who will open their eyes and have the will to follow me the way to discover thisstream and to build by it a city on which the stream will continuously fall, and bathe the city with it blessedwaters.

So I say that humans who desire their proper good just as do all other created things desire it in such away that in this proper good their desire may have repose and an end, nor can they continually desiresomething greater, since otherwise their desire would be vain and would be something going on to infinity.

Thus this last and highest good in which humans repose is the happiness proper to humans, a good thanwhich it is impossible to acquire any greater in this world.

Part 2Concerning things necessary for the pursuit of happiness

Now if a human individual should ever possess such a great good and achieve the beatitude proper tohumans, this good must be realized in seven items, all pertaining to humans: first in the soul simply by itself;second in the soul to the extent it governs the body; next in the soul as it oversees what furnishes theextrinsic needs of the body; fourth in the body itself; fifth in what is necessary for the body's maintenance;sixth, in the instruments providing necessities to the body; last, in the time the soul and the body areconjoined.It was with an eye to these seven items that Aristotle wisely described happiness as activity in accordancewith perfect virtue, without impediment, in a complete life: the first phrase encompasses all the virtues: thespeculative which per se are only in the soul; the moral, part of which involve the body, like temperanceand continence, and part extend to what serves the body, like liberality, justice and others similar to these,virtues that fill the soul with every good in the three mentioned grades. The second phrase encompassesthe three goods pertaining to the body and to its appurtenances, since one is without bodily impediment ifone is healthy, sturdy, and agile for all those actions required for well­being. One is equally free ofimpediment in what pertains to the body if one has an abundance of what is needed for living, for beingclothed, and for the other necessities, and likewise does not have an impediment relative to the meansproviding the things named, such as individuals who have an abundance of peasants, of servants, ofartisans, all of whom furnish food to eat along with clothing, and the other necessities. These then are thethree grades having reference to the body apart from the governance of the soul. In the third phrase of thedefinition, which is that in a complete life, is understood the seventh grade, common to the body and to thesoul; wherefore one alone can become blessed, whose thread of life is prolonged through the whole spaceof the course of human living; thus if it were cut in half, the individual could not in any way come to thestream we have described.

Part 3Concerning the needs of the soul and those of the body

Whence if we want a human to be able to come to drink of the waters of this stream, it is necessary thatwith all our power we keep whole and firm the link with which the body remains bound to the soul. Thislink is usually not broken except either through force which the soul applies to break it or through violencewhich the body inflicts on it, or because it becomes rotten in the course of time. But since a human is ableto come to the stream of this liberation before becoming rotten, we shall not speak of that at all. We willalso keep silent about that which is caused by the soul, since it happens very rarely and only to the holiestmen. For now it will be our intention to reason orderly about the things that can prevent this breaking upby reason of the body from coming about. This can readily be seen if we discuss the things by which ourlife is maintained and those by which it is destroyed.It is the opinion of Plato, of Aristotle, and of all the other philosophers and men of medicine, as well asbeing proven by sense, that a human lives for just so much time as the soul remains bound to the body, and

the soul remains with the body for however long there endures the link that keeps them close together.Further this link consists in the spirits described by our two philosophers and by those learned in medicineas the first instruments of the soul. It may come about that these spirits are lacking in the body eitherbecause they are not generated at all, or because they become corrupt after they have been generated.They are not generated due to a lack of blood or of air. The reason for this is that they are produced bythe most subtle part of the blood and of the inhaled air. The air can never abandon us, for if the reed of thelung were quite closed, the air is dispersed from the heart through the arteries throughout the entire body,even though it is not drawn in great abundance; and if the man dies in the strangulation, this is not due tothe total privation of the air, but due to the excessive heat, which comes upon the spirits due to thesuppression of ventilation. But there comes to be a lack of blood because either the stomach does notproduce digestive fluid, or, if this is produced, it does not come to the liver which converts it into blood.But to examine why the digestive fluid does not move to the liver is the task of those learned in medicine.But the reason why the stomach does not generate digestive fluid is twofold: either because food is notfurnished to it, or because it is so enervated that it cannot transform the food. But let the care of this organbe left to those learned in medicine. For my part I include in my city bodies that are healthy and naturallywell disposed. But it still can happen that they do not take nourishment, either because they do not have it,or because it is forbidden to them. Provision can be made in the laws to the effect that such a forbiddingbe itself forbidden. The sole remedy for not having nourishment, of course, is to have it.

Part 4Concerning necessary possessions and occupations

Thus the city must have food and drink if it desires to live and to be blessed. And because humans aregenerally accustomed to eat bread, vegetables, or fruit, and to drink wine, or water, or beverages made byart so as to be able to live and do so without impediment, all these seven things are required: five arisingfrom the earth, and of the other two one taking nourishment from the earth, and the other being producedfrom things born of the earth. Consequently it is necessary to acquire enough territory to be sufficient toproduce and to maintain all these goods in sufficient abundance to make it possible to nourish the entirecity without any impediment. And since land without the help of art usually becomes sterile and incapableof being productive over a long period of time, the need arises for farm workers and shepherds, foragriculture and for herdsmanship. And since such activity is very fatiguing and draining, men are requiredfor it who are robust and able to endure it. And so that they cannot refuse because it is the hard work, andso that the citizens can command them more freely, they need to be slaves. And in order that when theirmasters are commanding them they do not aspire to oppose their commandments, let them be timid and ofvile soul, and, as it is said, 'servants by their proper nature'. And so the multitude not do what one cannotdo by undertaking to rebel against their masters, let not kinsmen be together, because it is much easier forrelatives to agree to an action due to the similarity of blood than for other people who are of distantlineage. And in order that the unsettling discord they themselves would not be able to bring about is notbrought about with the help of neighboring people, these too must be like our rural workers in their vilenessof soul and in the difference of blood. Now this is one condition of the men who go before us leveling theroad by which we can more readily come to that stream to which we have referred. And becausehumans are not accustomed to consume food from grain and vegetables in the state the earth brings themforth, nor from meat that is alive or raw, for this reason there is gathered together a crowd of millers, of

frangiceci, of bakers, of breadmakers, of butchers, and of cooks who will then bring us these things thatare ready to eat. And since these artisans in preparing these things have need of many and various piecesof equipment, in their wake will come another multitude of artisans, stone cutters, bricklayers, woodcutters,and carpenters, who proceed to fabricate the things necessary for these others. All these things, whetherfrom afar or from nearby, concur in the creation of the spirits for the remedy of life, against that firstdefect that arises if they are not created.

Part 5Concerning the location of the city

Now I come to the second defect that comes about when the spirits are dispersed after they weregenerated. This usually happens in one of two ways: either due to their being pure and natural beyond thebody, or their being broken within the body. They are broken within the body due to too muchcondensation or too much rarefaction, or due to a poisonous quality contrary to their substance; or theybecome corrupt due to some other accident. Too great density is usually caused by the cold, whetherinternal or external. Similarly, the rarifying comes from heat that is either internal or external. And so toothe poisonous quality is either internal or external.But in view of the fact that there cannot enter any of the aforementioned qualities into a body that ishealthy and of a natural and good temperament if the qualities do not have their principle from without, weshall likewise prevent their production from within by resisting these qualities from without. Thus we shallbring about an overall convergence between the cold and the hot if we establish our city in a place whereneither of these two qualities is preponderant and excessive, but in a place that maintains a mediumcondition between both, which is that of all the fourth climate with the conjoined parts of the third and thefifth. And because of this, the cities of Ethiopia, and those which are too much beneath the Bears, cannotfully free themselves from thirst by means of the waters of our felicitous gorge, the excessively intenseheat posing an impediment to the former, and the excessively intense cold to the latter.We shall, then, disdain the cold and heat peculiar to the winter and summer seasons with the remedies thatare the most proper. We shall resist the cold if to the full extent possible we flee the calm and quiet air ofthe long winter season, the winds, the rains, the snow, the ice, from all of which the walls and the roofs ofthe houses as well as the covering of clothes spare us. This gives rise to our need for more types ofartisans to produce the houses: the architects, builders, manual laborers, woodworkers, carpenters, kilnoperators, stone cutters, while to make clothing, tailors, weavers, wool workers, furriers, cobblers, andmany others of like these are needed. The unbearable heat of the summer is avoided by taking advantageof the shade, of cool air and breezes, with light clothing. The shade and the coolness are had in the loggiasand in the ground level rooms, and the breezes in those places where the wind can reach us such as placesthat are uncovered and open, and to this end high loggias are comfortable. For all these elementsarchitecture along with its ministers will be put to use.And so that all the city might be able to have this comfort, let it be built in part on an elevated hill, so that itbe more exposed to the breezes; and so that in this same place it not have to face the long winter cold,because in such places it is usually more fierce, let it also be located in part on a plain where the coldcannot have such great force; and a site such as this not only contributes to comfort, but also to thepleasantness of the view, as well as to the defense of the city. It is for this reason Verona is praised in ourtimes and Athens in times past. By not weighing too much, the lightness of textiles protects greatly from

the bothersomeness of the heat. And there is no one who does not know that silk is less heavy than woolor linen. For this comfort, then, we are joined by another band of artisans who have the job of cutting thesilk for the use of the citizens. Even if they would be less weighted down by going naked, nevertheless thenecessity arising from modesty, which is numbered among the moral virtues, urges them to go through thesummer covered with clothing just as the necessity arising from cold mandates clothing in the winter.Exterior poisonousness, just like the cold and the heat, is generated in the air more than in any other place.This is nothing other than a destroyed and corrupt condition of the air arising beyond its nature, and this ishot and humid, putrid and pestilential.So by our fleeing this distempered air and what it can bring about, it will not be able to cause any harm toour life. The swamp and forests of those trees that keep their leaves, such as the box, laurel, ivy, cypresstree, and the like can corrupt the air. Likewise closed places where the air is quiet and the winds cannoteliminate impurities can make it become malignant. The south wind which is hot and humid canappreciably damage it yet further as well as the wind from the west to some extent since it is in thesecond place of the same temperature as the south wind. So if we want to have air that is healthy andincorrupt and which maintains in us life in the natural state, we shall abandon places where one or more ofthese defects is discovered. And for the building of our city we shall find sites totally contrary to those wehave described, because the contrary is the best and only remedy for its contrary.Consequently we shall chose places where there are no swamps or other stagnant and muddy waters,and places without those forests we have described, and places high and open, and exposed to the eastwind and the north wind. But because health is corrupted not only due to the above described reasons, butby the style of our ongoing life and by the disorders which all bring upon themselves and from innumerableaccidents that happen to us, which are born neither from the cold nor from the heat nor from corrupt air,we need another sort of artisan who counter these evils, with whose help we shall be liberated from theviolence of them. Such are the physical medical experts, the surgeons and their barber assistants, theassistants in the baths, and the aroma therapists.

Part 6Concerning the population and its equity

These means that have been described are those by which we can remedy the eating away of our vitalspirits that comes about little by little. Their sudden dispersing, which was the second way they wereseparated from the body, happens when a man is killed for some reason. And that usually comes aboutdue to an enemy who is a citizen, either private or public, or from an external enemy, either a commonenemy of the entire city or a particular enemy of an individual; or indeed one may be killed due to chance;but we cannot discuss matters of chance in a definite manner because they lie beyond our power.But when speaking of a domestic, citizen enemy I say that the fear of punishment should deter him fromcarrying out his evil intention, and the love citizens have for one another free him from the evil spirit. Thusthere will not be private enmities in our city if love reigns among the citizens; and love is not generatedexcept toward something that is known. So the citizens must have information about one another. This ishad in a medium­sized and manageable group rather than in an innumerable one; and even here it becomesstill more easy if the group is not simply thrown together but differentiated by lineage. This distinction hadits first roots in Egypt at the time of Sesostris.Our city, then, should not be filled with an infinite multitude of people, but with such a number that they will

be able to know each other easily; and to bring this about better, they shall be divided on the basis of bloodand lineage. And in order that this root of reciprocal love grow and come to such perfection that itproduces perfect fruit, I will that the people be fed in public dinners which will be celebrated at least onceevery month in accordance with the ancient custom of Italus, King of Italy, who put this practice into usebefore anyone else. Thus let there be provided public rooms in public places where these dinners may becelebrated, and let one part of the territory of the city be public, the fruits of which may be destined onlyfor this purpose. And so that the termites of envy not gnaw at this plant once it has been born and hasgrown, let the surrounding earth be moistened with the temperate water of equality, both in privatepossessions and in dignities; I believe this will prevent the birth of these accursed termites which divide theunity of the plant with their bite and finally consume it to the roots, from whence its total ruin necessarilyfollows.

Part 7Concerning the laws and the magistrates

But if there were some branch nourished, not from what we have described as the common nutriment ofthe entire tree, but of its own malignant humor, and as a result would want to harm the neighbors, thisbranch must be cut off with a blade to remove it entirely from the company of the others. And this bladeis the fear of the sacrosanct laws which we said prohibits the soul of someone from carrying out itsmalignity and bitterness against others. Of course the magistrates and the judges are the administratorscharged with carrying out the laws, and from them there will derive a lengthy cohort of prosecutors, ofadvocates, of procurators, of notaries, of messengers, of police, of guards, and other similar people. Andthese are the remedies against private domestic enmities.But those individuals who bring about hatreds and enmities with the community and with the universalpeace of the whole city, from which arise brawls, seditions, and civil wars, do this for no other reason thanthat they are motivated and goaded on by an overwhelming desire to rule. Therefore to avoid having to befearful of accusations and popular uprisings, let the rule or the governing of the city be in the power ofevery citizen; since one truly is a genuine citizen who participates in its honors and public administration.Yet because all the citizens cannot be granted this dignity at the same time, it is fitting that this be done byturns, and that they rise to the magistracy one after the other. And because the health of the entirerepublic depends on the governors and is saved by their prudence, for this reason those who govern thecity must be those who are most prudent and wise.

Part 8Concerning the governing of the city

Now part of prudence is from nature and part from experience. That from nature is found in youths justas it is in those who are older; but that acquired through experience is seen only in those who are older andof a mature age, their greater age having taught them the management of the things of the world.

Those who are older, then, should be elected to the government of the city, and the young should have therole of being governed, so that they might first learn to be just before they themselves have to rule others,since that Republic is happy above all others whose rulers, before they govern, have learned how to be

governed. All civil discords and dissensions will cease, then, if the fire of youthful ambition will beextinguished by the water of the certain hope of ruling. These are the medicines which will purge the bodyof our city of all its evil humors that can bring suffering and pain to any particular member or to the whole

Part 9Concerning the defense of the city and the militias

But how will one of our citizens defend himself in his own city from a foreign enemy? Certainly byterrifying him with the severity of the laws against anyone who, being a foreigner in our city, would havedared to perpetrate such an insult. But how will the city be able to protect itself from an enemy army?Without a doubt, with arms; but these will not engage in combat on their own, but need men who canmanage them, and in such men we seek equal amounts of will, of heart, and of strength to resist theenemies. Heart and strength are present from the first swaddling clothes, although sometimes they willgrow greater due to training and exercise; and they are found to be more robust among youths due to thestrength of their passion. But individuals will have the will due to the love of their own well­being and ofthe common well­being of the fatherland. The love of their own well­being will incite the citizens to adetermination to defend themselves provided each will have half their personal possessions within theconfines of the territory, and the other half closer to the city; because many times someone who does nothave part of what he possesses within the confines would not be concerned with offering help to thosewho have them there; and meanwhile those who have them there would very often come to an agreementwith the enemies so that their possessions not be destroyed, and from this division of wills the universaldestruction of all would necessarily follow. But where each would have some concern with what is in theconfines, they would resist the enemy with united spirit and strength. So that this union be brought aboutand completely saved, the legislator will divide the goods in the aforementioned manner. The love of thecommon good will find spirits ready to oppose the fury of the enemy provided all the defenders will havebeen born in the same fatherland. For this reason our city will not bring to its defense mercenary soldiers,but will make use of its own sons, who with a more tender love and a more ardent will shall guard it like amother from every external offense and will more willingly expose their lives to death for its defense. Andfrom this necessity is born the army of warriors who will defend even unto death the land from which theycame, and will not kill each other like those soldiers of Dadmus and Giascone. And in order that thesegenerous sons not sometimes be able to be oppressed in the lap of the maternal home by a superiormultitude of enemies that has come to assault them by sea or by land, there would be those professionsthat have the ability to keep their instruments in good repair.However if the enemy army would come by land, three things would be needed for defense. And first, toavoid letting the enemy army coming near the city, the lay of the land of the community will help, or atleast that of the confines of the territory, like being mountainous, rocky and rough, and lacking a greatabundance of water, but with a sufficient supply to be enough for the cattle of the locale even if notenough for the enemy; as a result it would be difficult for a large army to enter there, and if it did enter,the torment of thirst would force it to turn back. And if these things were not enough to get rid of it and itremained there to accost the city, then, so that it would not be able in one fell swoop to become the ruler,the barrier of walls would be needed to retard and restrain the enemy's fury. And to prevent the wallsfrom being scaled by light troops or overcome in another way, they must be surrounded by a moat. But sothat it not be possible in any way to overcome the walls, it would be best to build the city on such a site

that it have a high precipice on the part towards the land. And if even so the enemy were to come nearand try to overcome all these difficulties, it would be the job of the warriors to repulse it from within. Andthis is possible in two ways: either staying by the walls or going outside: if staying by the walls, either faraway or close by. From afar there would need to be the artillery, rifles, lancers, and bows. Close by therewould be needed for the purpose spear weapons of various sorts, swords and knives. And because theenemy can attack for an extended time, the warriors must defend themselves continuously from wounds.They can do this with arme di dosso, like the body armors, anime, corrasine, giacchi, and the like. Theseneeds summon to the city a multitude of artisans, of explosive makers, of bowmen, of archers, ofarmsmakers, and of swordmakers. Going out to the countryside, the warriors go by foot or horseback andthey either confront the enemy from afar or they join the battle from nearby. In the one or other manner,they use the same arms as the foot soldiers who continue using them to defend the walls. Most of thehorsemen also use arms that are adept at wounding at close quarters. And the horsemen also have theirhorses; the care of these will entail different kinds of artisans, of those who shoe the horses, ofarmsmakers, of saddlemakers, of trainers, and of others. And these are the men and the instruments thatprovide the defense against the enemy by land.But against those coming by sea (because we are forced, as we shall see, to make our city maritime) inpart the site and in part the men will guard the city; I want the site of the city to be somewhat engulfed,and the mouth of the gulf restricted, and on both its shores a castle built that can forbid entry to an enemyfleet. Then the defense on the part of men will be either by their remaining in the castles and in the city orby defending the walls, or by going out against the enemy. And the defense at sea cannot be carried outwith anything other than ships and galleys; farm workers selected for this will make good oarsmen. For theconstruction of the ships and of the galleys the city shall be furnished with shipbuilders, oarmakers,ropeweavers, weavers, and other similar artisans by which the armada can be outfitted. And the territorywill abound with lumber suitable for making the masts of such an armada.

Part 10Concerning commerce and religion

Since in wars (most of all when they last a long time) and in other public activities and construction thereare expenditures and these require funds to such an extent that they cannot be raised in a sufficientamount from the territory alone and from its holdings, it is important that there be some individuals in thecity who are dedicated to the activity of business and private merchandising, and that from this thecommunity, by means of tariffs and fair assessments increase its assets so as to be able to meet itsexpenses. And it is not unknown to anyone that trade by sea is more valuable and more easily carried outthan that by land. Wherefore, for the greater convenience of our merchants, we will locate our city on thecoast; behind it there will be located in the suitable areas places for the merchants, such as piazzas,markets, stands, stores, and shops. These are not only necessary, but also contribute a great deal to thebeautification of the city.And since religion is established so naturally in our souls that no human individual is ever found who hasnot established some God either by the law or by one's own choice and does not venerate it, it canconsequently be said in all truth that religion is no less proper to humans than is the inclination and thenatural love of living with companionship; thus for the satisfaction of all the souls of the citizens there mustbe in the city persons who will teach the divine laws, deal with the mysteries, and by means of sacrifices

make the Gods benign and capable of being pleased. Thus let the community build temples and churcheswhere the cult of God may be carried out.

Part 11Concerning the components and the parts of the city

Now from the whole preceding discourse one can easily deduce that six types of men are required for theconstitution of a happy city. First are the rural workers who go on ahead leveling and adapting the waythat leads us to the pleasant river we have described. Second are the artisans who produce carriages andcoaches for us and manage the horses and the mules on which we make our way to the stream with farless effort on our part. Third are the merchants who by their industriousness lighten the road for us, andwith their work frequently help us with our needs. Next to these are the warriors who in the face ofdanger guard with their own lives the lives of all the others. And after these are the magistrates and thosewho guide such a numerous multitude as they walk toward the pleasant waters of the celestial river. In thesixth place are the priests, who by their prayers bring it about that the people leave the solitude and thedesert with divine favor and grace, and arrive at the land full of those waters that are even moreflavorable and sweet than milk and honey.Will all these six types of men who devote themselves as companions for so laborious and fatiguing a roaddrink of the supercelestial waters? Certainly all those to whom the definition of happiness applies will befilled with those waters and will be happy; but, first of all, this definition does not pertain to the band ofrural workers, who are not free of many impediments even though they can live to an old age; instead theyspend their whole life in hard labor to make it possible for themselves and others to live; due to theseimpediments they cannot acquire the activities and the habits of the virtues that constitute that last stepthat causes us to come to beatitude. For the same reason, neither will the artisans be among the number ofthe blessed, passing their whole life as they do in stress and occupied with accommodating and freeingothers from labor; this so tires and enervates them that they no longer have the strength to ascend thesteep and demanding mountain of virtue. The band of merchants wandering all their lives through thedangerous travails of the unstable sea also give up the ascent of the secure and immobile mountain onwhose summit happiness finds its paradise and its delights of which these three types of men sufferdeprivation and exile.The remaining three orders, that is the warriors, the governors and the priests, can live for a long time,since necessities are provided for them by the three other orders that have already been described, so thatwith a quiet mind and without the anxiety of procuring food for themselves they can devote their entiresouls to both civil and contemplative virtue. It follows, then, that since we want to institute a city that isblessed and the three laboring orders cannot be clothed in the wedding garment nor be seated at tabletogether with those wearing these garments, they will not be included among those invited. But at thisbanquet some of them will serve as cooks, others as food bearers, and the third group as servers of theknife and the cup.My words signify that the order of rural workers, of artisans, and of merchants, not capable of beingblessed for the reasons outlined, shall not form part of the blessed city. Consequently they will not enjoy allits privileges, and for this reason will not be called citizens, since those alone should be truly regarded ascitizens who will sit at this wedding feast. And therefore honors, comforts, and favors will all be for thecitizens, while service, privation, and demanding labor will all be the lot of the others. And if indeed some

would want to call these others parts of the city, since the city cannot exist without them, I gladly will grantthem this name, understanding, however, that they are parts of the city just as the cultivator of the soil, theserver and the house manager are in a private house, leaving the role of the father of the family, of themother, and of the children to the priests, the magistrates, and the warriors.In summary I will say that our city has two parts, the one servile and miserable, the other seigniorial andblessed; and this latter part is properly called the citizenry, as the part in control and the patron of thehonors and the privileges of the republic.

Part 12Concerning the happiness of the citizens

Now of the three parts which we saw make up the definition of happiness, up to this point there has beena discussion only of the latter two, that is, the things that maintain our life for a long period, and those thatenable us to lead it in comfort and without any impediment. Let us turn to the third to see how the citizenscan become so excellent in the moral and intellectual virtues that with the help of these they can be happyand drink the waters of the celestial river.As happiness consists for the greater part and for its fulfillment in the activities of virtue, if our citizenswish to be happy they must first be virtuous. Now to acquire virtue three means are necessarily required:that of nature, since the role of human nature is primarily to make me capable of virtue. The second is thatof habit, which, directed by reason, cleanses me from the affections of the soul, from impurities, from vileand immoral appetites. The third means is that of reason, since beyond habituation, reason often producesconviction about some things that are better than those done due to long­established habit. The first isentirely from nature, while the second is from the giver of the laws. In the third both have a hand. This isdue to the fact that the goodness of the reason is partly a gift of nature and partly comes from habitacquired from the sciences as ordered by the legislator. The legislator must, if he aspires to lead his peopleto happiness, take into account the human soul and know that it has one part that is of itself reasonable,and that of this very part one component is practical and the other speculative; and of that part which is byits nature deprived of reason, there is one component apt to obey reason, and in this component arelocated all the human affections. And beyond that he keeps in mind the quality of earthly things and seesthat some are necessary, some are useful, and others honest; and he has concern for the states in whichour life continuously revolves and for the fact that these are either leisure or work, or peace or war. Andbeing obliged, according to our presupposition, to bring his citizens to happiness, which is our highest good,it is fitting that he choose the better of all these things and in these posit his goal and his repose. But hemust not neglect other things, but proceed step by step through those to the best and most perfect fabric.Of the powers of the soul, then, the most important and sublime is the speculative; consequently there isneed that he be steadfast in this, having first exercised his citizens both in the active powers and in thatwhere all the affections of our soul have their base.Still with regard to the quality of things let him be concerned with directing his people by laws andcustoms, by means of the necessary and useful giving validity to those that are honest, which are placed inthe highest and most prominent place. In the states of life, similarly, let him instruct them principally forleisure and for peace as for the better states, not, however, neglecting to accustom them to work and towar; so that according to need they might be able to busy themselves with war and with other occupationsin order to finally gain peace and repose.

For this he will accustom them more to honest things than to those that are useful; and more in the virtueswhich are proper to peace than in those of war; and more in those which are important in both conditions,such as is prudence, justice, temperance, and the like, than in those of one state alone, and love more tomake them speculative rather than practical. And according as a human is two­fold, body and soul, so thesoul is again two­fold, rational and irrational; and as the body is made for the soul and is prior in time to it,so the irrational, which is mixed with the body, serves the reasoning part, and is first put in operation, incontrast with the reasonable part which is the ultimate human perfection. Consequently it is fitting that thegiver of laws, so far as he can, first care for the body of his citizens, and then for the soul.

Part 13Concerning the generation of children

The body has its origin from being generated. Because of this he [the legislator] will have concern forgeneration. And since children come into life due both to the father and the mother, it is incumbent on thelawgiver to turn his thought first to them, so that, as they join together to generate the child from the seedof the father and (according to medical experts) the seed and the blood of the mother, there is need that itbe healthy and excessively warm, even if it not be the seed of both and the blood of the mother. Thereason for this is that any effect is equal in quality to that from which it comes. The seed will be healthy ifit comes from a healthy body, and likewise robust if from a robust body; and that is robust which is in itsnatural state, as warm as it can be, and this is when the man is in the stage and the flower of his age,which in the man is from 35 to 49 years and in the woman from 18 until 40. Even though women arecapable of generating from the age of 14 up to 50, nonetheless the blood and the seed before the age of 18are very weak and humid due to tenderness of age, while after forty they becomes quite cool. Likewise inthe man the seed is better at the age mentioned than in that which precedes or follows it, even though hetoo is capable of generating from 14 up to 70 years of age.Consequently the men and the women of our republic are to marry one another when they are of such anage. And for the same reason let them unite for the generative act in that specific time when their naturalheat is not debilitated as it is during summer, but rather highly condensed as it is during the winter; likewisewhen the man is not preoccupied with other bodily functions as he is when he has completed the firststage of digestion. The reason for this is that when he is engaged in these, he can attend less to the other.It is the same when he has finished all three stages and is overly lethargic because then his body isfamished and the moisture emptied from the vessels in which heat reposes as in its proper bed.Since nutrition is the restoration of our substance that has been consumed by the heat, and since theembryo after conception is nourished by the same nutriments as the mother, let her eating be strictlyregulated by the law and let her eat things that will not harm the offspring's members but rather cancontribute to their health and strength. Moist and warm foods of light confection and high nutrition aregenerally of this nature. And as we have said, since the little child must be born healthy and robust, bothfor its own sake and for the service of the republic, and since these effects proceed from a natural andpowerful warmth, as the mother nourishes the child she should neither diminish her own well­being norincrease it in excess, nor should she weaken it by becoming melancholy or idle, nor should sheoverstrengthen it by too much work. Let the legislator make use of the laws to direct pregnant women tovisit churches very often; this is an activity that does not involve too much bodily activity, something thatcould be harmful to the conceived child, and it enhances religion and devotion to God, without whose grace

nothing is good. This exercise also gives women an opportunity to see this and that in the city, to get rid ofbothersome thoughts, and to be good­spirited.

Part 14Concerning the raising of children

Among other things that are essential after birth, a little child should be given nutriments in such a way thatits tender little body not be harmed. This will be the case if the child is given soft food and such as is easyto digest; and nothing can be found better for this than milk. Among the things useful for life, for health,and for strength are those which conserve heat and keep it active; these include having the childexperience the cold in a moderate way. The reason is that the heat, beset by its contrary, activates itsefficacy with greater force, and is not left to languish from idleness. Weeping also activates heat to agreat extent. These steps are maintained for the governing of the child until the time when it is five yearsold; and from then until seven, the child should become accustomed to hear and see things required for theperfection of the body and of the soul.Exercise is required for the body. Toward this end let there be games prescribed in the city in which thecitizens get exercise according to the orders of their age; and let them all be games of free men and, aswe say nowadays, of a gentleman. All those games that do not render the body inept for the exercise ofvirtue will be of this type. This is the extent to which the legislator can contribute to the well­being of thebody by prescribing these customs.

Part 15Concerning the education of the children

Likewise he (the legislator) can assist the soul and lead it to its full development either by keeping it fromthe road that leads to vice, or inciting it to enter the steep path of the harsh mountain on whose summitvirtue maintains the paradise of its delights. The way of vice is barred every time he distances the youthsfrom seeing and hearing vicious and dishonest things by the fear of a great penalty. And so he keeps themfrom seeing lascivious pictures and from hearing comedies and other similar poems, and even more fromreciting them, so that their simple and pure souls are not stamped by such an ugly and damagingimpression, which, since it is the first, can never be removed from them. He does this by punishing publiclyin gatherings or in the piazzas either with damning words or with stripes those who, being in the age ofmanhood, have in the presence of children either said or done something dishonest or something else lessthan praiseworthy that could contaminate their souls. Then he will incite them to enter into the way ofvirtue with fear of the penalty of vice and with the hope of that glorious prize which virtue routinely givesto those who have arrived at its paradise; and this is the supreme pleasure and the supreme satisfactionone can have in this life.Because the weakness of their understanding keeps youths from being able to understand perfectly eitherthe penalty or the reward, let the legislator establish public places where they will be taught and instructedin the moral virtues, both with precepts and with examples, which will entirely mold that tender soul bymaking an impression on it, and impress it with their images in such a way that the image can be erasedfrom it only with difficulty. And this is as much as pertains to moral virtue.For the intellectual virtues one must be aware that since all our knowledge begins from the senses or from

the axioms born along with our soul, the way to speculation is opened by hearing or sight (the senses mostnoble from among all the others, because the others owe more to the body than to the soul) or byunderstanding: by hearing, listening to music, by whose sweetness the soul is moved and roused to a desireto know the reasons, both proximate and remote, for such a melody; similarly by seeing beautiful creaturesthere arises in it a desire to know how the parts that are the source of such beauty are fitted together, andwho is its maker. And to this end let the legislator lay it down that music and painting be taught publicly toinfuse such desire into the breasts of the children. And just as these two senses represent their images to the intellect by which they are then brought toactuation, so philosophy, in which the intellect expands the wings of its forces, leads to perfection thedesire which has been born in the soul of man due to music and beauty. This is deposited in booksnowadays, and from these our children can learn it better than from elsewhere. But since there is need todo this, they have to know grammar. So this subject must be added to the two already mentioned asneeding to be mastered by the children.But I say that beyond the need the soul has of these three things to arrive at perfection, they are veryuseful for many things, both public and private, since painting can be used for numerous important designsfor the city and for private individuals. Grammar is needed in many circumstances both individual andcommunal, as in the exposition of the laws, in announcements made in letters, as well as in others. Musicequally is very useful to excite, to calm, and to purify our soul. This is because the Frigian music warmsthe soul and fills it with excitement; the Lydian makes it tranquil and relaxed; the Dorian puts it in amiddling state; the Hypolydian, finally, makes it melancholy and sorrowful. And if indeed these types ofmusic nowadays are not known among us, even so they can deeply move our soul (as is proven everyday). And there are some that by their effects are somewhat similar to the ancient ones: the French to theFrigian, the Neapolitan to the Lydian, the Lombard to the Dorian. But since the mean is always to bepreferred above the extremes, because virtue is located in it, it would be better for the children first tobecome habituated to the Dorian, or in its stead to the Lombard which stands in the middle of all, toestablish the soul in this middle state.Beyond this, since happiness is our highest good and every good causes gaiety and joy in us, so happinessdoes not keep us in sorrow and sadness, but spirited and joyous. Music will be the best means for this; andso among those already blessed, who are not children, it will be well if all of sorts of music are adopted, inmeetings, in public feasts, and in private dwellings.

Part 16The most venerated city of the world

If our city will be such as we have described, most abundantly will it be able to relieve the thirst and to besated with the waters that will fall upon it from that blessed stream. This city in its supreme excellence,elevated among all the other cities of the world and placed in the sight of all, will be venerated by them,and adored, and implored to deign to dip its finger in the saving waters of its happy stream and to bathetheir mouths, burned and thirsting, with a drop as a comfort to their miseries.