ment of
the few; and so very soon met with the same fate as the tyrant.

For the multitude loathing its rulers, lent itself to any who ventured,
in whatever way, to attack them; when some one man speedily arose who
with the aid of the people overthrew them. But the recollection of the
tyrant and of the wrongs suffered at his hands being still fresh in
the minds of the people, who therefore felt no desire to restore
the monarchy, they had recourse to a popular government, which they
established on such a footing that neither king nor nobles had any place
in it. And because all governments inspire respect at the first, this
government also lasted for a while, but not for long, and seldom after
the generation which brought it into existence had died out. For,
suddenly, liberty passed into license, wherein neither private worth nor
public authority was respected, but, every one living as he liked, a
thousand wrongs were done daily. Whereupon, whether driven by necessity,
or on the suggestion of some wiser man among them and to escape anarchy,
the people reverted to a monarchy, from which, step by step, in the
manner and for the causes already assigned, they came round once more to
license. For this is the circle revolving within which all States are
and have been governed; although in the same State the same forms of
Government rarely repeat themselves, because hardly any State can have
such vitality as to pass through such a cycle more than once, and still
together. For it may be expected that in some sea of disaster, when a
State must always be wanting prudent counsels and in strength, it will
become subject to some neighbouring and better-governed State; though
assuming this not to happen, it might well pass for an indefinite period
from one of these forms of government to another.

I say, then, that all these six forms of government are pernicious--the
three good kinds, from their brief duration the three bad, from their
inherent badness. Wise legislators therefore, knowing these defects, and
avoiding each of these forms in its simplicity, have made choice of a
form which shares in the qualities of all the first three, and which
they judge to be more stable and lasting than any of these separately.
For where we have a monarchy, an aristocracy, and a democracy existing
together in the same city, each of the three serves as a check upon the
other.

Among those who have earned special praise by devising a constitution of