Chapter 3 compares uses of politique in Jean Bodin’s Six livres de la République and the paratexts of Loys Le Roy’s translation and commentary of Aristotle’s Politiques. It shows that politics was rising as a discipline in the 1560s and 1570s. It considers the place of Aristotle in the politique problem, and the influences of authorities ancient and modern (including Machaivelli), as well as associations between politics and prudence, and the importance of law and history for Bodin and Le Roy. The second half of the analysis deals with the politique character that emerges in these texts: a powerful, even clairvoyant incarnation of political knowledge. The end of the chapter addresses the ways in which this characterisation is exclusive and excluding in terms of social hierarchy, global geography, and gender.