NUMERICAL RELATIONS OF SOCIAL FORMS 135 
geous position for his own selfish interests. In that case 
his position becomes that of the fertius gaudens. In the 
first case he serves as a means to the ends of the group, in 
the latter case he makes the relationship between the others 
and himself serve as a means to his own ends. In such cases 
the triadic relationship is often especially created by the 
non-partisan for his own advantages and not yet existent in 
nonsolidated structures. 
In the last configuration, indicated by the motto Di- 
mde et tmpera, the third element plays an even more active 
role. While in the second configuration there usually is an 
existing antithesis between the two elements which the 
third element merely uses to its own advantage, in this 
third configuration the third element actually creates that 
antithesis. There are, of course, transition forms which are 
difficult to classify under one or the other. But the essen- 
tial fact is that two elements originally united against a 
third, or at least mutually dependent in their relations to a 
third, are placed in mutual antithesis and opposition by 
this third element. The result is that they will mutually 
counterbalance each other and leave the third element 
free to pursue its own interests, or mutually weaken each 
other enough to give the third element a predominance 
which no other single element can dispute. 
These three configurations are variations of the form 
of triadic groups. They are purely formal configurations. 
They can be found in social situations having the most 
varying content, and occur not only as relationships be- 
tween persons, but also as relationships between groups. 
They are manifest in military alliances, in political com- 
binations, and in economic associations. They appear in 
the relationship of the monarch to other monarchs as well 
as in the relationship of the monarch to his subiects.! 
t Soz., pp. 99-126.