ity
which admits of this community, the tie of friendship must, from that
very cause, be extremely weak, when no father can say, this is my son;
or son, this is my father; for as a very little of what is sweet, being
mixed with a great deal of water is imperceptible after the mixture, so
must all family connections, and the names they go by, be necessarily
disregarded in such a community, it being then by no means necessary
that the father should have any regard for him he called a son, or
the brothers for those they call brothers. There are two things which
principally inspire mankind with care and love of their offspring,
knowing it is their own, and what ought to be the object of their
affection, neither of which can take place in this sort of community. As
for exchanging the children of the artificers and husbandmen with those
of the military, and theirs reciprocally with these, it will occasion
great confusion in whatever manner it shall be done; for of necessity,
those who carry the children must know from whom they took and to whom
they gave them; and by this means those evils which I have already
mentioned will necessarily be the more likely to happen, as blows,
incestuous love, murders, and the like; for those who are given from
their own parents to other citizens, the military, for instance, will
not call them brothers, sons, fathers, or mothers. The same thing
would happen to those of the military who were placed among the other
citizens; so that by this means every one would be in fear how to act
in consequence of consanguinity. And thus let us determine concerning a
community of wives and children.

CHAPTER V

We proceed next to consider in what manner property should be regulated
in a state which is formed after the most perfect mode of government,
whether it should be common or not; for this may be considered as a
separate question from what had been determined concerning [1263a] wives
and children; I mean, whether it is better that these should be held
separate, as they now everywhere are, or that not only possessions but
also the usufruct of them should be in common; or that the soil should
have a particular owner, but that the produce should be brought together
and used as one common stock, as some nations at present do; or on the
contrary, should the soil be common, and should it also be cultivated in
common, while the produce is divided amongst the individuals for their
particular use, whic