Politics

​while these belong to a larger number; for nowhere are there a hundred men of noble birth and virtue, but rich men are in many places. But to be organized absolutely and entirely according to either form of equality is bad. This is clear from what happens; for none of such constitutions is permanent. And the cause of this is that it is impossible, starting from a first error committed at the beginning, not to meet with some evil in the end. Therefore, one must use numerical equality in some things, and equality according to merit in others. Nevertheless, democracy is safer and more free from faction than oligarchy. For in oligarchies two kinds of faction arise, both that of the oligarchs against one another and further that against the people, whereas in democracies there is only the faction against the oligarchy, while faction of the people against itself, which is indeed worth mentioning, does not arise. Further, the constitution based on the middle class is closer to the people than to the few, which is the safest of such constitutions. Since we are examining from what causes factions and changes in constitutions arise, we must first grasp their starting points and causes in general. They are, so to speak, nearly three in number, which we must first define by themselves in outline. For we must grasp in what state of mind men rebel, and for what purposes, and thirdly, what are the starting points of political disturbances and of factions against one another. Now, as the general cause of their being in a certain state of mind toward change, we must chiefly set down the one we happen to have already spoken of. For those who aim at equality rebel if they think they have less although they are equal to those who have more; and those who aim at inequality and superiority rebel if they assume that, being unequal, they do not have more but only equal or less (and of these things it is possible to reach out for justly, but also unjustly). For being less, they rebel in order that they may be equal, and being equal, in order that they may be greater. In what state of mind they rebel, then, has been said. The things about which they rebel are gain and honor, and their opposites. For they also rebel in the cities to avoid dishonor and loss, either on their own behalf or for their friends. But the causes and starting points of the movements, which make them disposed in the way said and about the things mentioned, happen to be seven in number in one way, but more in another. Of these, two are the same as those mentioned, but not in the same way; for it is because of gain and honor that they are also provoked against one another, not in order to acquire them for themselves, as was said before,