§5.1306a(ὥσπερ Ἱππαρῖνος Διονύσιον ἐν Συρακούσαις, καὶ ἐν Ἀμφιπόλει ᾧ ὄνομα ἦν Κλεότιμος τοὺς ἐποίκους τοὺς Χαλκιδέων ἤγαγε, καὶ ἐλθόντων διεστασίασεν αὐτοὺς πρὸς τοὺς εὐπόρους, καὶ ἐν Αἰγίνῃ ὁ τὴν πρᾶξιν τὴν πρὸς Χάρητα πράξας ἐνεχείρησε μεταβαλεῖν τὴν πολιτείαν διὰ τοιαύτην αἰτίαν)· ὁτὲ μὲν οὖν ἐπιχειροῦσί τι κινεῖν, ὁτὲ δὲ κλέπτουσι τὰ κοινά, ὅθεν πρὸς αὐτοὺς στασιάζουσιν ἢ οὗτοι ἢ οἱ πρὸς τούτους μαχόμενοι κλέπτοντας, ὅπερ ἐν Ἀπολλωνίᾳ συνέβη τῇ ἐν τῷ Πόντῳ.
(just as Hipparinus [set up] Dionysius in Syracuse, and in Amphipolis he whose name was Cleotimus led in the colonists of the Chalcidians and, when they had come, set them in faction against the wealthy, and in Aegina the one who carried out the transaction with Chares attempted to change the constitution for such a cause); sometimes then they attempt to make some revolution, and sometimes they embezzle the public funds, whence either they themselves or those fighting against them as embezzlers rise in faction against them, which happened in Apollonia in Pontus.
ὁμονοοῦσα δὲ ὀλιγαρχία οὐκ εὐδιάφθορος ἐξ αὑτῆς.
But an oligarchy that is in harmony is not easily destroyed from within itself.
σημεῖον δὲ ἡ ἐν Φαρσάλῳ πολιτεία· ἐκεῖνοι γὰρ ὀλίγοι ὄντες πολλῶν κύριοί εἰσι διὰ τὸ χρῆσθαι σφίσιν αὐτοῖς καλῶς.
And a sign of this is the constitution in Pharsalus; for they, though being few, are masters of many because they conduct themselves well toward one another.
καταλύονται δὲ καὶ ὅταν ἐν τῇ ὀλιγαρχίᾳ ἑτέραν ὀλιγαρχίαν ἐμποιῶσιν.
And they are also dissolved when they create another oligarchy within the oligarchy.
τοῦτο δʼ ἐστὶν ὅταν τοῦ παντὸς πολιτεύματος ὀλίγου ὄντος τῶν μεγίστων ἀρχῶν μὴ μετέχωσιν οἱ ὀλίγοι πάντες, ὅπερ ἐν Ἤλιδι συνέβη ποτέ· τῆς πολιτείας γὰρ διʼ ὀλίγων οὔσης τῶν γερόντων ὀλίγοι πάμπαν ἐγίνοντο διὰ τὸ ἀιδίους εἶναι ἐνενήκοντα ὄντας, τὴν δʼ αἵρεσιν δυναστευτικὴν εἶναι καὶ ὁμοίαν τῇ τῶν ἐν Λακεδαίμονι γερόντων.
This is when, the whole ruling body being small, not all of these few participate in the greatest offices, which happened once in Elis; for the constitution being in the hands of few, the elders became very few indeed because they, being ninety in number, were for life, and the election was oligarchical and similar to that of the elders in Lacedaemon.
γίγνεται δὲ μεταβολὴ τῶν ὀλιγαρχιῶν καὶ ἐν πολέμῳ καὶ ἐν εἰρήνῃ, ἐν μὲν πολέμῳ διὰ τὴν πρὸς τὸν δῆμον ἀπιστίαν στρατιώταις ἀναγκαζομένων χρῆσθαι (ᾧ γὰρ ἂν ἐγχειρίσωσιν, οὗτος πολλάκις γίνεται τύραννος, ὥσπερ ἐν Κορίνθῳ Τιμοφάνης· ἂν δὲ πλείους, οὗτοι αὑτοῖς περιποιοῦνται δυναστείαν· ὁτὲ δὲ ταῦτα δεδιότες μεταδιδόασι τῷ πλήθει τῆς πολιτείας διὰ τὸ ἀναγκάζεσθαι τῷ δήμῳ χρῆσθαι)· ἐν δὲ τῇ εἰρήνῃ διὰ τὴν ἀπιστίαν τὴν πρὸς ἀλλήλους ἐγχειρίζουσι τὴν φυλακὴν στρατιώταις καὶ ἄρχοντι μεσιδίῳ, ὃς ἐνίοτε γίνεται κύριος ἀμφοτέρων, ὅπερ συνέβη ἐν Λαρίσῃ ἐπὶ τῆς τῶν Ἀλευαδῶν ἀρχῆς τῶν περὶ Σῖμον, καὶ ἐν Ἀβύδῳ ἐπὶ τῶν ἑταιριῶν ὧν ἦν μία ἡ Ἰφιάδου.
And change of oligarchies occurs both in war and in peace; in war indeed because of distrust toward the people, since they are forced to employ mercenary soldiers (for to whomever they entrust [the command], this man often becomes a tyrant, just as Timophanes did in Corinth; and if there are several, these secure a dynastic clique for themselves; and sometimes, fearing these outcomes, they share the constitution with the multitude because of being forced to employ the people); in peace, because of distrust toward one another, they entrust the guard to soldiers and to a mediating magistrate, who sometimes becomes master of both sides, which happened in Larisa during the rule of the Aleuadae around Simos, and in Abydus during the time of the political clubs of which that of Iphiades was one.
γίνονται δὲ στάσεις καὶ ἐκ τοῦ περιωθεῖσθαι ἑτέρους ὑφʼ ἑτέρων τῶν ἐν τῇ ὀλιγαρχίᾳ αὐτῶν καὶ καταστασιάζεσθαι κατὰ γάμους ἢ δίκας, οἷον ἐκ γαμικῆς μὲν αἰτίας αἱ εἰρημέναι πρότερον (καὶ τὴν ἐν Ἐρετρίᾳ δʼ ὀλιγαρχίαν τὴν τῶν ἱππέων Διαγόρας κατέλυσεν ἀδικηθεὶς περὶ γάμον), ἐκ δὲ δικαστηρίου κρίσεως ἡ ἐν Ἡρακλείᾳ στάσις ἐγένετο καὶ ἡ ἐν Θήβαις, ἐπʼ αἰτίᾳ μοιχείας δικαίως μὲν στασιαστικῶς δὲ ποιησαμένων τὴν κόλασιν τῶν μὲν ἐν Ἡρακλείᾳ κατʼ Εὐρυτίωνος, τῶν δʼ ἐν Θήβαις κατʼ Ἀρχίου §5.1306b(ἐφιλονείκησαν γὰρ αὐτοὺς οἱ ἐχθροὶ ὥστε δεθῆναι ἐν ἀγορᾷ ἐν τῷ κύφωνι).
And factions also arise from some being pushed aside by others of the oligarchs themselves and being subjected to factional attacks over marriages or lawsuits; for example, from a matrimonial cause those mentioned before (and Diagoras dissolved the oligarchy of the knights in Eretria after being wronged concerning a marriage); and from a judgment of a court the faction in Heraclea arose and that in Thebes, when they carried out the punishment on a charge of adultery justly indeed but in a factional manner, those in Heraclea against Eurytion, and those in Thebes against Archias; (for their enemies vied against them so that they were bound in the marketplace in the pillory).
πολλαὶ δὲ καὶ διὰ τὸ ἄγαν δεσποτικὰς εἶναι τὰς ὀλιγαρχίας ὑπὸ τῶν ἐν τῇ πολιτείᾳ τινῶν δυσχερανάντων κατελύθησαν, ὥσπερ ἡ ἐν Κνίδῳ καὶ ἡ ἐν Χίῳ ὀλιγαρχία.
And many oligarchies have also been dissolved because of being too despotic, by some of those in the constitution who became indignant, just as the oligarchy in Cnidus and that in Chios.
γίγνονται δὲ καὶ ἀπὸ συμπτώματος μεταβολαὶ καὶ τῆς καλουμένης πολιτείας καὶ τῶν ὀλιγαρχιῶν ἐν ὅσαις ἀπὸ τιμήματος βουλεύουσι καὶ δικάζουσι καὶ τὰς ἄλλας ἀρχὰς ἄρχουσιν.
And changes also occur from accident both in the so-called polity and in oligarchies, in all those where they deliberate, judge, and hold other offices on the basis of a property qualification.
πολλάκις γὰρ τὸ ταχθὲν πρῶτον τίμημα πρὸς τοὺς παρόντας καιρούς, ὥστε μετέχειν ἐν μὲν τῇ ὀλιγαρχίᾳ ὀλίγους ἐν δὲ τῇ πολιτείᾳ τοὺς μέσους, εὐετηρίας γιγνομένης διʼ εἰρήνην ἢ διʼ ἄλλην τινʼ εὐτυχίαν συμβαίνει πολλαπλασίου γίγνεσθαι τιμήματος ἀξίας τὰς αὐτὰς κτήσεις, ὥστε πάντας πάντων μετέχειν, ὁτὲ μὲν ἐκ προσαγωγῆς καὶ κατὰ μικρὸν γινομένης τῆς μεταβολῆς καὶ λανθανούσης, ὁτὲ δὲ καὶ θᾶττον.
For often the property qualification first established with view to the present times, so that in the oligarchy few participate, and in the polity the middle class, when prosperity arises because of peace or some other good fortune, it happens that the same possessions become worth many times the property qualification, so that all participate in everything, sometimes indeed gradually and little by little, the change occurring and passing unnoticed, but sometimes also more rapidly.
αἱ μὲν οὖν ὀλιγαρχίαι μεταβάλλουσι καὶ στασιάζουσι διὰ τοιαύτας αἰτίας (ὅλως δὲ καὶ αἱ δημοκρατίαι καὶ αἱ ὀλιγαρχίαι ἐξίστανται ἐνίοτε οὐκ εἰς τὰς ἐναντίας πολιτείας ἀλλʼ εἰς τὰς ἐν τῷ αὐτῷ γένει, οἷον ἐκ τῶν ἐννόμων δημοκρατιῶν καὶ ὀλιγαρχιῶν εἰς τὰς κυρίους καὶ ἐκ τούτων εἰς ἐκείνας).
Now oligarchies change and rise in faction because of such causes (and on the whole, both democracies and oligarchies sometimes deviate not into the opposite constitutions, but into those in the same class, just as from law-abiding democracies and oligarchies into arbitrary ones, and from the latter into the former).
ἐν δὲ ταῖς ἀριστοκρατίαις γίνονται αἱ στάσεις αἱ μὲν διὰ τὸ ὀλίγους τῶν τιμῶν μετέχειν, ὅπερ εἴρηται κινεῖν καὶ τὰς ὀλιγαρχίας, διὰ τὸ καὶ τὴν ἀριστοκρατίαν ὀλιγαρχίαν εἶναί πως (ἐν ἀμφοτέραις γὰρ ὀλίγοι οἱ ἄρχοντες, οὐ μέντοι διὰ ταὐτὸν ὀλίγοι)· ἐπεὶ δοκεῖ γε διὰ ταῦτα καὶ ἡ ἀριστοκρατία ὀλιγαρχία εἶναι.
And in aristocracies factions arise, on the one hand, because of few participating in the honors, which has been said to move oligarchies too, because aristocracy also is in a way an oligarchy (for in both the rulers are few, though indeed not for the same reason); since on account of these things indeed, aristocracy seems to be an oligarchy.
μάλιστα δὲ τοῦτο συμβαίνειν ἀναγκαῖον ὅταν ᾖ τι πλῆθος τῶν πεφρονηματισμένων ὡς ὁμοίων κατʼ ἀρετήν, οἷον ἐν Λακεδαίμονι οἱ λεγόμενοι Παρθενίαι (ἑκ τῶν ὁμοίων γὰρ ἦσαν), οὓς φωράσαντες ἐπιβουλεύσαντας ἀπέστειλαν Τάραντος οἰκιστάς, ἢ ὅταν τινὲς ἀτιμάζωνται μεγάλοι ὄντες καὶ μηθενὸς ἥττους κατʼ ἀρετὴν ὑπό τινων ἐντιμοτέρων, οἷον Λύσανδρος ὑπὸ τῶν βασιλέων, ἢ ὅταν ἀνδρώδης τις ὢν μὴ μετέχῃ τῶν τιμῶν, οἷον Κινάδων ὁ τὴν ἐπʼ Ἀγησιλάου συστήσας ἐπίθεσιν ἐπὶ τοὺς Σπαρτιάτας· ἔτι ὅταν οἱ μὲν ἀπορῶσι λίαν οἱ δʼ εὐπορῶσιν (καὶ μάλιστα ἐν τοῖς πολέμοις τοῦτο γίνεται· συνέβη δὲ καὶ τοῦτο ἐν Λακεδαίμονι ὑπὸ τὸν Μεσηνιακὸν πόλεμον· δῆλον δὲ ἐκ τῆς Τυρταίου ποιήσεως τῆς καλουμένης Εὐνομίας·
And this must happen most of all whenever there is some multitude of those who are proud as being equal in virtue, just as in Lacedaemon those called Partheniae (for they were from the Equals), whom they, having detected plotting, sent away as founders of Tarentum; or whenever some who are great and second to none in virtue are dishonored by some who are more honored, just as Lysander was by the kings; or whenever someone who is manly does not participate in the honors, just as Cinadon, who organized the attack against the Spartans in the time of Agesilaus; furthermore, whenever some are extremely poor and others are wealthy (and this happens most of all in wars; and this also happened in Lacedaemon during the Messenian war, as is clear from the poem of Tyrtaeus called Eunomia;