Politics

​It is well, then, to call aristocracy that constitution which we discussed in the first discourses; for it is just to address as aristocracy only that constitution which is made of those who are absolutely best in virtue, and not merely good men relative to some hypothesis. For in that constitution alone is the same man absolutely both good and a good citizen, whereas those who are good in the other constitutions are so relative to their own. Nevertheless, there are some constitutions which have differences both from oligarchical ones and from the so-called “politeia” (constitution). For where they choose the offices not only by wealth but also by merit, this constitution differs from both of them and is called aristocratic. For even in those constitutions which do not make a common care of virtue, there are nevertheless some who are highly esteemed and thought to be respectable. Where, then, the constitution looks to wealth, virtue, and the people, as in Carthage, this is aristocratic, as are also those which look to only two of these, like that of the Lacedaemonians, which looks to virtue and the people, and is a mixture of these two, democracy and virtue. These, then, are two forms of aristocracy besides the first, which is the best constitution, and a third is as many of the so-called politeia as incline more toward oligarchy. It remains for us to speak about both the so-called politeia and about tyranny. We have arranged them in this way because neither this nor the aristocracies just mentioned are deviations, since, in truth, all of them have missed the most correct constitution, and furthermore, they are numbered along with these, and these are themselves deviations of them, just as we said in the beginning. And it is reasonable to make mention of tyranny last of all, because this is the least of all a constitution, and our inquiry is about constitutions. For what reason, then, it has been arranged in this manner has been stated; and now we must show concerning the politeia. For its power is more manifest now that the matters concerning oligarchy and democracy have been defined. For the politeia is, to speak simply, a mixture of oligarchy and democracy. And they are accustomed to call those that decline toward democracy “politeia”, and those that incline more toward oligarchy “aristocracy”, because education and noble birth are more attendant upon the wealthier class. Furthermore, the wealthy are thought to possess those things for the sake of which wrongdoers commit wrongs; hence people also address them as the “noble and good” and “notables”. Since, therefore, aristocracy wishes to distribute preeminence to the best of the citizens, they say that oligarchies also consist more of the noble and good.