Pagina 289 van 734

Further, this last-mentioned Just is of two kinds, natural and

conventional; the former being that which has everywhere the same

force and does not depend upon being received or not; the latter

being that which originally may be this way or that indifferently

but not after enactment: for instance, the price of ransom being

fixed at a mina, or the sacrificing a goat instead of two sheep;

and again, all cases of special enactment, as the sacrificing to

Brasidas as a hero; in short, all matters of special decree.

But there are some men who think that all the Justs are of this

latter kind, and on this ground: whatever exists by nature, they

say, is unchangeable and has everywhere the same force; fire, for

instance, burns not here only but in Persia as well, but the

Justs they see changed in various places.