Gripla - 20.12.2009, Page 113

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Wherefore Hellenes do not like to call Hellenes slaves, but confine
the term to barbarians. yet, in using this language, they really mean
the natural slave of whom we spoke at first; for it must be admitted
that some are slaves everywhere, others nowhere. The same
principle applies to nobility. Hellenes regard themselves as noble
everywhere, and not only in their own country, but they deem
barbarians noble only when at home, thereby implying that there
are two sorts of nobility and freedom, the one absolute, the other
relative (Ibid., 61).
this is a stunning declaration to the effect that the Hellenes stands out as
unique; only they are measurable on an absolute scale of nobility and free­
dom, applicable exclusively to themselves, not to humanity at large. While
on the surface, learned Greeks from Homer to Aristotle saw humankind as
one biological species, and the barbarians as merely babblers within it, the
distinction between Hellenes and others went deeper. The inability to
speak Greek was in effect much more than a linguistic shortcoming; peo­
ple who were devoid of both logos and polis were by definition outside of
the oikumene (Pagden 1982, 16). the babblers may have been of the same
species, but they were certainly of a different kind not having been taught
the virtues of the polis. the state is a precondition for virtue and the proper
use of human intelligence. Says Aristotle in Politics, Book one, Ch. 2:
But he who is unable to live in society, or who has no need because
he is sufficient for himself, must be either a beast or a god: he is no
part of a state. A social instinct is implanted in all men by nature,
and yet he who first founded the state was the greatest of
benefactors. For man, when perfected, is the best of animals, but,
when separated from law and justice, he is the worst of all; since
armed injustice is the more dangerous, and he is equipped at birth
with arms, meant to be used by intelligence and virtue, which he
may use for the worst ends. Wherefore, if he have not virtue, he is
most unholy and the most savage of animals, and the most full of
lust and gluttony (Ibid., 54).
the barbarians are no longer simply incomprehensible; they are uncivilised
by all tokens of civilisation that are now seen to form an integrated
whole.
noRtHeRn BARBARIAnS