Politics

And it seems to be among the impossible things for a city that is not governed by the best but by the wicked to have good laws, and likewise for a city that does not have good laws to be governed by the best. And good law-abidingness (eunomia) is not the laws being well-established but not being obeyed. Therefore, one must suppose one part of good law-abidingness to be the obeying of the established laws, and another part to be that the laws which they abide by are well-established (for it is possible to obey laws that are badly established too). And this is possible in two ways: for either to the best of those possible for them, or to those that are absolutely best. And aristocracy seems to be especially the distribution of honors according to virtue (for the defining principle of aristocracy is virtue, of oligarchy wealth, and of the people [democracy] freedom); but that whatever seems good to the majority exists in all of them; for in oligarchy, in aristocracy, and in democracies, whatever seems good to the majority part of those who share in the constitution, this is authoritative. In most cities, then, this form of constitution is called “politeia”; for the mixture aims only at the wealthy and the poor, at wealth and freedom (for almost among most people, the wealthy seem to occupy the place of the noble and good); but since there are three things that dispute for equality in the constitution—freedom, wealth, and virtue (for the fourth, which they call noble birth, follows upon two of them; for noble birth is ancient wealth and virtue)—it is manifest that the mixture of the two, the wealthy and the poor, should be called “politeia”, while that of the three should be called “aristocracy” more than any other, apart from the true and first aristocracy. It has been said, therefore, that there are other forms of constitution besides monarchy, democracy, and oligarchy, and what these are, and in what way aristocracies and politeiai differ from one another; and it is manifest that these are not far from one another. In what way, then, the so-called politeia comes into being alongside democracy and oligarchy, and how one must establish it, let us discuss next after what has been said. And at the same time, those things by which they define democracy and oligarchy will also become clear; for we must take the division between them, and then, taking as it were a tally (symbolon) from each of them, put them together. And there are three modes of this composition and mixture. For either we must take both things which each side legislates, as for instance concerning judging in courts (for in oligarchies they ordain a fine for the wealthy if they do not judge, but no pay for the poor, whereas in democracies they ordain pay for the poor, but no fine for the wealthy; and what is common and in the middle of these is both of these, wherefore it is also political [constitutional], for it has been mixed from both);