And yet the contrary happens quite as often; for a democracy is even
more likely to change into an oligarchy than into a monarchy. Further,
he never says whether tyranny is, or is not, liable to revolutions,
and if it is, what is the cause of them, or into what form it changes.
And the reason is, that he could not very well have told: for there is
no rule; according to him it should revert to the first and best,
and then there would be a complete cycle. But in point of fact a
tyranny often changes into a tyranny, as that at Sicyon changed from
the tyranny of Myron into that of Cleisthenes; into oligarchy, as
the tyranny of Antileon did at Chalcis; into democracy, as that of
Gelo's family did at Syracuse; into aristocracy, as at Carthage, and
the tyranny of Charilaus at Lacedaemon. Often an oligarchy changes
into a tyranny, like most of the ancient oligarchies in Sicily; for
example, the oligarchy at Leontini changed into the tyranny of
Panaetius; that at Gela into the tyranny of Cleander; that at
Rhegium into the tyranny of Anaxilaus; the same thing has happened
in many other states. And it is absurd to suppose that the state
changes into oligarchy merely because the ruling class are lovers
and makers of money, and not because the very rich think it unfair
that the very poor should have an equal share in the government with
themselves.
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