y be allowed to do
as they like; which, Plato says, arises from too much liberty. Although
there are many oligarchies and democracies, yet Socrates, when he is
treating of the changes they may undergo, speaks of them as if there was
but one of each sort.

BOOK VI

CHAPTER I

We have already shown what is the nature of the supreme council in the
state, and wherein one may differ from another, and how the different
magistrates should be regulated; and also the judicial department, and
what is best suited to what state; and also to what causes both the
destruction and preservation of governments are owing.

As there are very many species of democracies, as well as of other
states, it will not be amiss to consider at the same time anything which
we may have omitted to mention concerning either of them, and to allot
to each that mode of conduct which is peculiar to and advantageous for
them; and also to inquire into the combinations of all these different
modes of government which we [1317a] have mentioned; for as these are
blended together the government is altered, as from an aristocracy to
be an oligarchy, and from a free state to be a democracy. Now, I mean
by those combinations of government (which I ought to examine into, but
have not yet done), namely, whether the deliberative department and the
election of magistrates is regulated in a manner correspondent to an
oligarchy, or the judicial to an aristocracy, or the deliberative part
only to an oligarchy, and the election of magistrates to an aristocracy,
or whether, in any other manner, everything is not regulated according
to the nature of the government. But we will first consider what
particular sort of democracy is fitted to a particular city, and also
what particular oligarchy to a particular people; and of other states,
what is advantageous to what. It is also necessary to show clearly, not
only which of these governments is best for a state, but also how
it ought to be established there, and other things we will treat of
briefly.

And first, we will speak of a democracy; and this will at the same
time show clearly the nature of its opposite which some persons call
an oligarchy; and in doing this we must examine into all the parts of
a democracy, and everything that is connected therewith; for from the
manner in which these are compounded together different species of
democracies arise: and hence it is that they are more than one, and of
var