BOOK III - CHAPTER VIII

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_ It will be necessary to enlarge a little more upon the nature of each
of these states, which is not without some difficulty, for he who
would enter into a philosophical inquiry into the principles of them,
and not content himself with a superficial view of their outward
conduct, must pass over and omit nothing, but explain the true spirit
of each of them. A tyranny then is, as has been said, a monarchy,
where one person has an absolute and despotic power over the whole
community and every member therein: an oligarchy, where the supreme
power of the state is lodged with the rich: a democracy, on the
contrary, is where those have it who are worth little or nothing. But
the first difficulty that arises from the distinctions which we have
laid down is this, should it happen that the majority of the
inhabitants who possess the power of the state (for this is a
democracy) should be rich, the question is, how does this agree with
what we have said? The same difficulty occurs, should it ever happen
that the poor compose a smaller part of the people than the rich, but
from their superior abilities acquire the supreme power; for this is
what they call an oligarchy; it should seem then that our definition
of the different states was not correct: nay, moreover, could any one
suppose that the majority of the people were poor, and the minority
rich, and then describe the state in this manner, that an oligarchy
was a government in which the rich, being few in number, possessed the
supreme power, and that a democracy was a state in which the poor,
being many in number, possessed it, still there will be another
difficulty; for what name shall we give to those states we have been
describing? I mean, that b which the greater number are rich, and that
in which the lesser number are poor (where each of these possess the
supreme power), if there are no other states than those we have
described. It seems therefore evident to reason, that whether the
supreme power is vested in the hands of many or few may be a matter of
accident; but that it is clear enough, that when it is in the hands of
the few, it will be a government of the rich; when in the hands of the
many, it will be a government of the poor; since in all countries
there are many poor and few rich: it is not therefore the cause that
has been already assigned (namely, the number of people in power) that
makes the difference between the two governments; but an oligarchy and
democracy differ in this from each other, in the poverty of those who
govern in the one, and the riches I28oa of those who govern in the
other; for when the government is in the hands of the rich, be they
few or be they more, it is an oligarchy; when it is in the hands of
the poor, it is a democracy: but, as we have already said, the one
will be always few, the other numerous, but both will enjoy liberty;
and from the claims of wealth and liberty will arise continual
disputes with each other for the lead in public affairs. _

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