I
will explain the reason of this hereafter, when I speak of the
revolutions of states. The mean condition of states is clearly best,
for no other is free from faction; and where the middle class is
large, there are least likely to be factions and dissensions. For a
similar reason large states are less liable to faction than small
ones, because in them the middle class is large; whereas in small
states it is easy to divide all the citizens into two classes who
are either rich or poor, and to leave nothing in the middle. And
democracies are safer and more permanent than oligarchies, because
they have a middle class which is more numerous and has a greater
share in the government; for when there is no middle class, and the
poor greatly exceed in number, troubles arise, and the state soon
comes to an end. A proof of the superiority of the middle dass is that
the best legislators have been of a middle condition; for example,
Solon, as his own verses testify; and Lycurgus, for he was not a king;
and Charondas, and almost all legislators.
These considerations will help us to understand why most governments
are either democratical or oligarchical. The reason is that the middle
class is seldom numerous in them, and whichever party, whether the
rich or the common people, transgresses the mean and predominates,
draws the constitution its own way, and thus arises either oligarchy
or democracy.
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