§4.1296aὡς ὅπου οἱ μὲν πολλὰ σφόδρα κέκτηνται οἱ δὲ μηθέν, ἢ δῆμος ἔσχατος γίγνεται ἢ ὀλιγαρχία ἄκρατος, ἢ τυραννὶς διʼ ἀμφοτέρας τὰς ὑπερβολάς· καὶ γὰρ ἐκ δημοκρατίας τῆς νεανικωτάτης καὶ ἐξ ὀλιγαρχίας γίγνεται τυραννίς, ἐκ δὲ τῶν μέσων καὶ τῶν σύνεγγυς πολὺ ἧττον.
This is because, where some possess extremely many things and others nothing, either an extreme democracy or an unmixed oligarchy comes about, or a tyranny arises through both of these excesses; for tyranny comes about both from the most violent democracy and from oligarchy, but far less from the middle class and those close to them.
τὴν δʼ αἰτίαν ὕστερον ἐν τοῖς περὶ τὰς μεταβολὰς τῶν πολιτειῶν ἐροῦμεν.
We will state the cause of this later in the section on changes of constitutions.
ὅτι δʼ ἡ μέση βελτίστη, φανερόν· μόνη γὰρ ἀστασίαστος·
But that the middle constitution is best is clear; for it alone is free from faction.
ὅπου γὰρ πολὺ τὸ διὰ μέσου, ἥκιστα στάσεις καὶ διαστάσεις γίγνονται τῶν πολιτῶν.
For where the middle class is numerous, factions and dissensions among citizens occur least.
καὶ αἱ μεγάλαι πόλεις ἀστασιαστότεραι διὰ τὴν αὐτὴν αἰτίαν, ὅτι πολὺ τὸ μέσον· ἐν δὲ ταῖς μικραῖς ῥᾴδιόν τε διαλαβεῖν εἰς δύο πάντας, ὥστε μηθὲν καταλιπεῖν μέσον, καὶ πάντες σχεδὸν ἄποροι ἢ εὔποροί εἰσι.
And large cities are freer from faction for the same cause, because the middle class is numerous; but in small cities it is easy to divide all the people into two, so that nothing is left in the middle, and almost everyone is either poor or rich.
καὶ αἱ δημοκρατίαι δὲ ἀσφαλέστεραι τῶν ὀλιγαρχιῶν εἰσι καὶ πολυχρονιώτεραι διὰ τοὺς μέσους (πλείους τε γάρ εἰσι καὶ μᾶλλον μετέχουσι τῶν τιμῶν ἐν ταῖς δημοκρατίαις ἢ ταῖς ὀλιγαρχίαις), ἐπεὶ ὅταν ἄνευ τούτων τῷ πλήθει ὑπερτείνωσιν οἱ ἄποροι, κακοπραγία γίνεται καὶ ἀπόλλυνται ταχέως.
And democracies are also safer than oligarchies and longer-lasting because of the middle class; for they are more numerous and participate more in honors in democracies than in oligarchies, since when, without these, the poor exceed in number, misfortune occurs and they are quickly ruined.
σημεῖον δὲ δεῖ νομίζειν καὶ τὸ τοὺς βελτίστους νομοθέτας εἶναι τῶν μέσων πολιτῶν· Σόλων τε γὰρ ἦν τούτων (δηλοῖ δʼ ἐκ τῆς ποιήσεως) καὶ Λυκοῦργος (οὐ γὰρ ἦν βασιλεύς) καὶ Χαρώνδας καὶ σχεδὸν οἱ πλεῖστοι τῶν ἄλλων.
And we must regard it as a sign also that the best legislators were from the middle citizens; for Solon was of these (as is clear from his poetry), and Lycurgus (for he was not king), and Charondas, and almost most of the others.
φανερὸν δʼ ἐκ τούτων καὶ διότι αἱ πλεῖσται πολιτεῖαι αἱ μὲν δημοκρατικαί εἰσιν αἱ δʼ ὀλιγαρχικαί.
And from these things it is also clear why most constitutions are either democratic or oligarchic.
διὰ γὰρ τὸ ἐν ταύταις πολλάκις ὀλίγον εἶναι τὸ μέσον, αἰεὶ ὁπότεροι ἂν ὑπερέχωσιν, εἴθʼ οἱ τὰς οὐσίας ἔχοντες εἴθʼ ὁ δῆμος, οἱ τὸ μέσον ἐκβαίνοντες καθʼ αὑτοὺς ἄγουσι τὴν πολιτείαν, ὥστε ἢ δῆμος γίγνεται ἢ ὀλιγαρχία.
For because in these the middle class is often small, whichever of the two groups gets the upper hand, whether those who possess property or the common people, those who overstep the middle lead the constitution according to themselves, so that either a democracy or an oligarchy comes about.
πρὸς δὲ τούτοις διὰ τὸ στάσεις γίγνεσθαι καὶ μάχας πρὸς ἀλλήλους τῷ δήμῳ καὶ τοῖς εὐπόροις, ὁποτέροις ἂν μᾶλλον συμβῇ κρατῆσαι τῶν ἐναντίων, οὐ καθιστᾶσι κοινὴν πολιτείαν οὐδʼ ἴσην, ἀλλὰ τῆς νίκης ἆθλον τὴν ὑπεροχὴν τῆς πολιτείας λαμβάνουσιν, καὶ οἱ μὲν δημοκρατίαν οἱ δʼ ὀλιγαρχίαν ποιοῦσιν.
In addition to these, because factions and battles occur between the common people and the well-off, whichever of the two happens to conquer their opponents, they do not establish a common or equal constitution, but they take the superiority of the constitution as a prize of victory, and some make a democracy, others an oligarchy.
ἔτι δὲ καὶ τῶν ἐν ἡγεμονίᾳ γενομένων τῆς Ἑλλάδος πρὸς τὴν παρʼ αὑτοῖς ἑκάτεροι πολιτείαν ἀποβλέποντες οἱ μὲν δημοκρατίας ἐν ταῖς πόλεσι καθίστασαν οἱ δʼ ὀλιγαρχίας, οὐ πρὸς τὸ τῶν πόλεων συμφέρον σκοποῦντες ἀλλὰ πρὸς τὸ σφέτερον αὐτῶν, ὥστε διὰ ταύτας τὰς αἰτίας ἢ μηδέποτε τὴν μέσην γίνεσθαι πολιτείαν ἢ ὀλιγάκις καὶ παρʼ ὀλίγοις· εἷς γὰρ ἀνὴρ συνεπείσθη μόνος τῶν πρότερον ἐφʼ ἡγεμονίᾳ γενομένων ταύτην ἀποδοῦναι τὴν τάξιν, ἤδη δὲ καὶ τοῖς ἐν ταῖς πόλεσιν ἔθος καθέστηκε μηδὲ βούλεσθαι τὸ ἴσον,
Furthermore, also of those who came into hegemony of Greece, each looking to their own constitution at home, some established democracies in the cities and others oligarchies, looking not to the interest of the cities but to their own, so that for these causes the middle constitution either never comes about or seldom and in few places; for only one man among those who formerly came into hegemony was persuaded to restore this arrangement, and now there has also established itself a habit among those in the cities not even to wish for equality,