The kings and elders,
if unanimous, may determine whether they will or will not bring a
matter before the people, but when they are not unanimous, the
people decide on such matters as well. And whatever the kings and
elders bring before the people is not only heard but also determined
by them, and any one who likes may oppose it; now this is not
permitted in Sparta and Crete. That the magistrates of five who have
under them many important matters should be co-opted, that they should
choose the supreme council of 100, and should hold office longer
than other magistrates (for they are virtually rulers both before
and after they hold office)- these are oligarchical features; their
being without salary and not elected by lot, and any similar points,
such as the practice of having all suits tried by the magistrates, and
not some by one class of judges or jurors and some by another, as at
Lacedaemon, are characteristic of aristocracy. The Carthaginian
constitution deviates from aristocracy and inclines to oligarchy,
chiefly on a point where popular opinion is on their side. For men
in general think that magistrates should be chosen not only for
their merit, but for their wealth: a man, they say, who is poor cannot
rule well- he has not the leisure. If, then, election of magistrates
for their wealth be characteristic of oligarchy, and election for
merit of aristocracy, there will be a third form under which the
constitution of Carthage is comprehended; for the Carthaginians choose
their magistrates, and particularly the highest of them- their kings
and generals- with an eye both to merit and to wealth.
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