From the moment men own land, they settle down. They find in the cultivation of the soil abundant resources to guard against hunger. Assured of a livelihood, it begins to occur to them that human existence holds other sources of enjoyment than the satisfaction of the first and most basic needs of life.
So long as men remained nomadic hunters, inequality could not rise among them in a permanent manner. There was no outward sign that could establish the superiority of one man, especially of one family, over another family or individual in a lasting way; and had this sign existed, it could not be passed on to his children. But from the instant when land ownership was recognized and after men had converted vast forests into rich fallow fields and fertile meadows, from this moment, one saw individuals holding more land than was needed to feed themselves and they passed ownership into the hands of their descendants. From thence came the existence of surpluses, with surpluses arose the taste for pleasures besides the satisfaction of the coarsest of physical needs.
It is in this stage of social development that one must place the origins of all aristocracies.
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