Revolutions arise from this
cause as well, in democracies as in other forms of government, but not
to so great an extent. When the rich grow numerous or properties
increase, the form of government changes into an oligarchy or a
government of families. Forms of government also change- sometimes
even without revolution, owing to election contests, as at Heraea
(where, instead of electing their magistrates, they took them by
lot, because the electors were in the habit of choosing their own
partisans); or owing to carelessness, when disloyal persons are
allowed to find their way into the highest offices, as at Oreum,
where, upon the accession of Heracleodorus to office, the oligarchy
was overthrown, and changed by him into a constitutional and
democratical government.
Again, the revolution may be facilitated by the slightness of the
change; I mean that a great change may sometimes slip into the
constitution through neglect of a small matter; at Ambracia, for
instance, the qualification for office, small at first, was eventually
reduced to nothing. For the Ambraciots thought that a small
qualification was much the same as none at all.
Another cause of revolution is difference of races which do not at
once acquire a common spirit; for a state is not the growth of a
day, any more than it grows out of a multitude brought together by
accident.
Pages:
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211