Finally, although there are many forms of oligarchies and
democracies, Socrates speaks of their revolutions as though there were
only one form of either of them.
BOOK SIX
I
WE have now considered the varieties of the deliberative or
supreme power in states, and the various arrangements of law-courts
and state offices, and which of them are adapted to different forms of
government. We have also spoken of the destruction and preservation of
constitutions, how and from what causes they arise.
Of democracy and all other forms of government there are many kinds;
and it will be well to assign to them severally the modes of
organization which are proper and advantageous to each, adding what
remains to be said about them. Moreover, we ought to consider the
various combinations of these modes themselves; for such
combinations make constitutions overlap one another, so that
aristocracies have an oligarchical character, and constitutional
governments incline to democracies.
When I speak of the combinations which remain to be considered,
and thus far have not been considered by us, I mean such as these:
when the deliberative part of the government and the election of
officers is constituted oligarchically, and the law-courts
aristocratically, or when the courts and the deliberative part of
the state are oligarchical, and the election to office aristocratical,
or when in any other way there is a want of harmony in the composition
of a state.
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