“ When are men, living in the same place, to be regarded as a single city- what is the limit? ”
Aristotle, Politics (4th century BC). copy citation
| Author | Aristotle |
|---|---|
| Source | Politics |
| Topic | limit living |
| Date | 4th century BC |
| Language | English |
| Reference | |
| Note | Translated by Benjamin Jowett |
| Weblink | http://classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/politics.html |
Context
“(for the soil and the population may be separated, and some of the inhabitants may live in one place and some in another) . This, however, is not a very serious difficulty; we need only remark that the word 'state' is ambiguous.
It is further asked: When are men, living in the same place, to be regarded as a single city- what is the limit? Certainly not the wall of the city, for you might surround all Peloponnesus with a wall. Like this, we may say, is Babylon, and every city that has the compass of a nation rather than a city; Babylon, they say, had been taken for three days before some part of the inhabitants became aware of the fact.”
source
