Another
kind is based on the distinction which naturally comes next in
order; in this, every one to whose birth there is no objection is
eligible, but actually shares in the government only if he can find
leisure. Hence in such a democracy the supreme power is vested in
the laws, because the state has no means of paying the citizens. A
third kind is when all freemen have a right to share in the
government, but do not actually share, for the reason which has been
already given; so that in this form again the law must rule. A
fourth kind of democracy is that which comes latest in the history
of states. In our own day, when cities have far outgrown their
original size, and their revenues have increased, all the citizens
have a place in the government, through the great preponderance of the
multitude; and they all, including the poor who receive pay, and
therefore have leisure to exercise their rights, share in the
administration. Indeed, when they are paid, the common people have the
most leisure, for they are not hindered by the care of their property,
which often fetters the rich, who are thereby prevented from taking
part in the assembly or in the courts, and so the state is governed by
the poor, who are a majority, and not by the laws.
So many kinds of democracies there are, and they grow out of these
necessary causes.
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