The Complete Aristotle (eng.)

form of either of them.

Politics, Book VI
    Translated by Benjamin Jowett
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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.
    I have shown already what forms of democracy are suited to
particular cities, and what of oligarchy to particular peoples, and
to whom each of the other forms of government is suited. Further,
we must not only show which of these governments is the best for
each state, but also briefly proceed to consider how these and
other forms of government are to be established.
    First of all let us speak of democracy, which will also bring to
light the opposite form of government commonly called oligarchy.
For the purposes of this inquiry we need to ascertain all the
elements and characteristics of democracy, since from the
combinations of these the varieties of democratic government arise.
There are several of these differing from each other, and the
difference is due to two causes. One (1) has been already
mentioned—differences of population; for the popular element may
consist of husbandmen, or of mechanics, or of laborers, and if the
first of these be added to the second, or the third to the two
others, not only does the democracy become better or worse, but its
very nature is changed. A second cause (2) remains to be mentioned:
the various properties and characteristics of democracy, when
variously combined, make a difference. For one democracy will have
less and another will have more, and another will have all of these
characteristics. There is an advantage in knowing them all, whether
a man wishes to establish some new form of democracy, or only to
remodel an existing one. Founders of states try to bring together
all the elements which accord with the ideas of the several
constitutions; but this is a mistake of theirs, as I have already
remarked when speaking of the destruction and preservation of
states. We will now set forth the principles, characteristics, and
aims of such states.
II
    The basis of a democratic state is liberty; which, according to
the common opinion of men, can only be enjoyed in such a state;
this they affirm to be the great end of every democracy. One
principle of liberty is for all to rule and be ruled in turn, and
indeed democratic justice is the application of numerical not
proportionate equality; whence it follows that the majority must be
supreme, and that whatever the majority approve must be the end and
the just. Every citizen, it is said, must have equality, and
therefore in a democracy the poor have more power than the rich,
because there are more of them, and the will of the majority is
supreme. This, then, is one note of liberty which all democrats
affirm to be the principle of their state. Another is that a man
should live as he likes. This, they say, is the privilege of a
freeman, since, on the other hand, not to live as a man likes is
the mark of a slave. This is the second characteristic of
democracy, whence has arisen the claim of men to be ruled by none,
if possible, or, if this is impossible, to rule and be ruled in
turns; and so it contributes to the freedom based upon
equality.
    Such being our foundation and such the principle from which we
start, the characteristics of democracy are as follows the election
of