The Complete Aristotle (eng.)

the
first form, which allows to any one who obtains the required amount
the right of sharing in the government. The sharers in the
government being a numerous body, it follows that the law must
govern, and not individuals. For in proportion as they are further
removed from a monarchical form of government, and in respect of
property have neither so much as to be able to live without
attending to business, nor so little as to need state support, they
must admit the rule of law and not claim to rule themselves. But if
the men of property in the state are fewer than in the former case,
and own more property, there arises a second form of oligarchy. For
the stronger they are, the more power they claim, and having this
object in view, they themselves select those of the other classes
who are to be admitted to the government; but, not being as yet
strong enough to rule without the law, they make the law represent
their wishes. When this power is intensified by a further
diminution of their numbers and increase of their property, there
arises a third and further stage of oligarchy, in which the
governing class keep the offices in their own hands, and the law
ordains that the son shall succeed the father. When, again, the
rulers have great wealth and numerous friends, this sort of family
despotism approaches a monarchy; individuals rule and not the law.
This is the fourth sort of oligarchy, and is analogous to the last
sort of democracy.
VII
    There are still two forms besides democracy and oligarchy; one
of them is universally recognized and included among the four
principal forms of government, which are said to be (1) monarchy,
(2) oligarchy, (3) democracy, and (4) the so-called aristocracy or
government of the best. But there is also a fifth, which retains
the generic name of polity or constitutional government; this is
not common, and therefore has not been noticed by writers who
attempt to enumerate the different kinds of government; like Plato,
in their books about the state, they recognize four only. The term
‘aristocracy’ is rightly applied to the form of government which is
described in the first part of our treatise; for that only can be
rightly called aristocracy which is a government formed of the best
men absolutely, and not merely of men who are good when tried by
any given standard. In the perfect state the good man is absolutely
the same as the good citizen; whereas in other states the good
citizen is only good relatively to his own form of government. But
there are some states differing from oligarchies and also differing
from the so-called polity or constitutional government; these are
termed aristocracies, and in them the magistrates are certainly
chosen, both according to their wealth and according to their
merit. Such a form of government differs from each of the two just
now mentioned, and is termed an aristocracy. For indeed in states
which do not make virtue the aim of the community, men of merit and
reputation for virtue may be found. And so where a government has
regard to wealth, virtue, and numbers, as at Carthage, that is
aristocracy; and also where it has regard only to two out of the
three, as at Lacedaemon, to virtue and numbers, and the two
principles of democracy and virtue temper each other. There are
these two forms of aristocracy in addition to the first and perfect
state, and there is a third form, viz., the constitutions which
incline more than the so-called polity towards oligarchy.
VIII
    I have yet to speak of the so-called polity and of tyranny. I
put them in this order, not because a polity or constitutional
government is to be regarded as a perversion any more than the
above mentioned aristocracies. The truth is, that they an fall
short of the most perfect form of government, and so they are
reckoned among perversions, and the really perverted forms are
perversions of these, as I said in the original discussion. Last of
all I will speak of tyranny, which I place last in the series
because I am inquiring into the constitutions of states, and this
is the very reverse of a constitution
    Having explained why I have adopted this order, I will proceed
to consider constitutional government; of which the nature will be
clearer now that oligarchy and democracy have been defined. For
polity or constitutional government may be described generally as a
fusion of oligarchy and democracy; but the term is usually applied
to those forms of government which incline towards democracy, and
the