Politics according to Ibn Khaldun

From Scott Horton's very erudite blog at Harpers:

Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn, Ibn Khaldūn Meets Sultan al-Narir, ink drawing (ca. 1650)


"Politics is the ordering of the household or the city as they ought to be according to the requirements of ethics and wisdom so that the multitude could be made to follow a path leading to the protection and preservation of the species."


– Abū Zayd ‘Abdu r-Rahman bin Muhammad bin Khaldūn (ابو زيد عبد الرحمن بن محمد بن خلدون), Muqaddimat (مقدّمة ابن خلدون) i, 62 (1377 CE)(M. Mahdi transl. 1957)