CHAPTER 4

Democracy does not mean only the rule of number: it also means the rule of a social class. Both criteria must be used to define democracy, as both number and social class must also be used to define oligarchy. On this basis we may now study the different varieties of democracy and oligarchy, which (as stated in the previous chapter) will depend on the varieties to be found in the 'parts' of different cities—i.e. on the different natures of their social composition. We shall accordingly classify the varieties of constitutions as we should classify the various species of animals—by the varieties of their parts and of the composition of those parts. We therefore proceed to enumerate the ten or so parts which go to the composition of a city, contrasting our enumeration with the different enumeration of Plato. We must also take note of the different forms assumed by the dēmos, or populace, and also by the upper class, according as one or another part predominates in its make-up. This enables us to distinguish five varieties of democracy, in a descending scale which ends in 'extreme democracy'—a variety of democracy, pg 140analogous to tyranny, where law has ceased to be sovereign and the notion of a constitution has practically disappeared.

Link 1290a30It ought not to be assumed, as some people are nowadays in the habit of doing, that democracy can be defined, without any qualification, as a form of constitution in which the greater number are sovereign.* Even in oligarchies, and indeed in all constitutions, the majority is sovereign.* Similarly, oligarchy cannot be simply defined as a form [of government] in which a few people have sovereignty over the constitution. Suppose that the total population is 1,300, that 1,000 of the 1,300 are wealthy, and that these 1,000 assign no share in office to the remaining 300 poor, although they are men of free birth and like them in other respects. Nobody will say that these people are democratically governed. Or suppose, again, that there are only a few poor men, but that they are stronger than the rich men who form the majority. Nobody would term such a constitution an oligarchy, if no share in official honours is given to the group that is rich. It is better, therefore, to say that democracy exists wherever the free-born are sovereign, and that oligarchy exists wherever the rich are sovereign, though it so happens that the former are many and the latter few—there are many who are free-born, but few who are rich. Otherwise* we should have an oligarchy if offices were distributed on the basis of height (as they are said to be in Ethiopia), or on the basis of looks; for the number of tall or good-looking men must always be small.

Link 1290b7Yet even this criterion [of poverty and wealth] is not sufficient to distinguish the constitutions in question. We have to remember that the democratic and the oligarchical city both contain a number of parts. We cannot, therefore, apply the term 'democracy' to a constitution under which those who are free-born rule a majority who are not free-born. (A system of this sort once existed at Apollonia, on the Ionian Gulf, and at Thera. In both of these cities honours and offices were reserved for those who were of the best birth—in the sense of being the descendants of the original settlers—though they were only a handful of the whole population.)

pg 141Nor can we apply the term democracy to a constitution under which the rich are sovereign simply because they are more numerous than the poor. An example of such a constitution formerly existed at Colophon, where before the war with Lydia a majority of the citizens were the owners of large properties. There is a democracy when the free-born and poor control the government, being at the same time a majority; and similarly there is an oligarchy when the rich and better-born control the government, being at the same time a minority.

Link 1290b21The fact that there are a number of constitutions, and the cause of that fact, have been established. We must now explain why there are more constitutions than the two just mentioned [i.e. democracy and oligarchy], indicate what they are, and suggest the reasons for their existence. In doing so we may start from the principle which was previously stated, and which we can now take as agreed, that every city consists, not of one, but of many parts.

Link 1290b25If we aimed at a classification of the different kinds of animals, we should begin by enumerating what is necessary to every animal. These will include, for example, some of the sensory organs, organs for getting and digesting food, such as the mouth and the stomach, and, in addition, the organs of locomotion which are used by the different animals. Assuming that there are only so many of these organs and that they come in different forms—I mean that there are different forms of mouth, of stomach, of sensory organs, and of organs of locomotion, the number of possible combinations of these varieties will inevitably produce several different kinds of animals (for the same kind of animal cannot exhibit several varieties of mouth, or of ears). Thus when all the possible combinations have been taken into account they will produce different kinds of animals—as many kinds of animals as there are combinations of the necessary organs.

1290b37It is just the same with the constitutions which have been mentioned. Cities too, as we have repeatedly noticed, are composed not of one but of many parts. One of these parts consists of all those people concerned with the production of food, or, as it is called, the farming class. A second, which is pg 142called the mechanical class, consists of those who are occupied in the various arts and crafts without which a city cannot be inhabited—some of them being necessities, and other contributing to luxury or to the living of a good life. A third part is what may be termed the marketing class; it includes all those who are occupied in buying and selling, either as merchants or as retailers. A fourth part is the class of hired labourers; and a fifth element is the defence force, which is no less necessary than the other four, if the population is not to be enslaved by invaders. For it is surely not possible to call a city by that name if it is naturally servile. Self-sufficiency is the mark of a city whereas the slave is not self-sufficient.

1291a10For this reason the account of this matter in the Republic [369d–371e] is inadequate, though ingenious. 'Socrates' begins by stating that four elements are most necessary for the constitution of a city. He says that these are weavers, farmers, shoemakers, and builders. He then proceeds, on the ground that these four are not self-sufficient, to add other parts—smiths, herdsmen to tend the necessary cattle, merchants, and retail dealers. These are the parts which form the whole complement of the 'first city' which he sketches—as though every city merely existed for the supply of necessities, and not rather to achieve the Good, and as though it needed the shoemaker as much as it needs the farmer.

1291a19'Socrates' gives no part to the defence force until the growth of the city's territory, and contact with that of its neighbours, gets them involved in war. Moreover, even among the four original parts—or whatever may be the number of the elements forming the association—there needs to be someone to dispense justice, and to determine what is just. If the mind is to be reckoned as more essentially a part of a living being than the body, parts of a similar order must equally be reckoned as more essentially parts of the city than those which serve its basic needs. By this we mean the military part, the part concerned in the legal organization of justice, and (we may also add) the part engaged in deliberation, which is a function that needs the gift of political understanding. Whether the people these functions belong to are separate groups or the same, makes no difference to the argument. It pg 143often falls to the same people both to serve in the army and to till the fields. It is clear therefore that if these people are to be considered parts of the city alongside those first mentioned, then the element, at any rate, which bears arms is an essential part of the city.

Link 1291a33The seventh part* consists of those who serve the city with their property. We call these the 'wealthy'. The eighth part serves the public and undertakes duties connected with public office. No city can exist without rulers; and there must therefore be people capable of discharging the duties of office and rendering the city that service, permanently or in rotation. There remain the parts we mentioned above: the deliberative part and the part which determines what is just when there is a dispute. If these parts ought not only to exist in all cities, but to exist in a way that is fine and just, it is essential that some of the citizens possess excellence [of mind and character].

Link 1291b2The different capacities belonging to the other parts may, it is generally held, be shown by one and the same set of people. The same people, for example, may serve as soldiers, farmers, and craftsmen; the same people, again, may act both as a deliberative council and a judicial court. Goodness [of mind and character], too, is a quality to which all men pretend; and everybody thinks himself capable of filling most offices. But the same people cannot be both rich and poor. This explains why these two classes, the rich and the poor, are regarded as parts of the city in a special sense. Nor is this all. Since one of these classes is generally small, and the other large, they appear to have the status of opposed elements among the parts of the city. This is why the constitutions which are established are based on the predominance of one or other of these elements. It is also the reason why it is thought that there are only two constitutions, democracy and oligarchy.

Link 1291b14The fact that there are a number of constitutions, and the causes of that fact, have already been established. We may now go on to say that there are also a number of varieties of both democracy and oligarchy. This is already clear from what has been previously said.* The reason for this pg 144is that both the populace [the dēmos] and the notables vary in kind. So far as the populace is concerned, one sort is engaged in farming; a second is engaged in the arts and crafts; a third is the marketing sort, which is engaged in buying and selling; a fourth is the maritime sort, which in turn is partly naval, partly mercantile, partly employed on ferries, and partly engaged in fisheries. (We may note that there are many places where one of these subdivisions forms a considerable body; as the fishermen do at Tarentum and Byzantium, the naval crews at Athens, the merchant seamen in Aegina and Chios, and the ferrymen at Tenedos.) In addition to these there is the sort of populace that is composed of unskilled labourers and those whose means are too small to enable them to enjoy any leisure; finally there are those who are not of free birth on both sides; and there may also be other sorts of populace of similar character. The notables fall into different sorts according to wealth, birth, merit, culture, and other qualities of the same order.

Link 1291b30The first variety of democracy is the one which is said to follow the principle of equality closest. In this variety the law declares equality to mean that the poor are to count no more than the rich: neither is to be sovereign and both are to be on a level. For if we hold, as some thinkers do, that liberty is chiefly to be found in democracy and that the same goes for equality, this condition is most fully realized when all share, as far as possible, on the same terms in the constitution. A constitution of this order is bound to be a democracy; for the people are the majority, and the decision of the majority is sovereign.

1291b38This is one variety of democracy; another is that in which offices are assigned on the basis of a property qualification, but the qualification is low; those who attain it have to be admitted to a share in office, and those who lose it are excluded. A third variety is one in which every citizen of unimpeachable descent can share in office, but the law is the final sovereign. A fourth variety is one in which everyone, provided only that he is a citizen, can share in office, but the law is still the final sovereign. A fifth variety of democracy is the same in other respects but the people, and not the law, is pg 145the final sovereign. This is what happens when popular decrees are sovereign instead of the law;* and that is a result which is brought about by leaders of the demagogue type.

1292a7In cities which have a democracy under the law there are no demagogues; it is the best of the citizens who preside over affairs. Demagogues arise in cities where the laws are not sovereign. The people then becomes a monarchy—a single composite monarch made up of many members, with the many playing the sovereign, not as individuals, but collectively. It is not clear what Homer means when he says [Iliad ii. 204] that 'it is not good to have the rule of many masters': whether he has in mind a situation of this kind, or one where there are many rulers who act as individuals. However, a democracy of this sort, since it has the character of a monarch and is not governed by law, sets about ruling in a monarchical way and grows despotic; flatterers are held in honour and it becomes analogous to the tyrannical form of monarchy. For this reason both show a similar temper; both behave like despots to the better citizens; the decrees of the one are like the edicts of the other; the popular leader in the one is the same as, or at any rate like, the flatterer in the other; and in either case the influence of favourites predominates—that of the flatterer in tyrannies, and that of the popular leader in democracies of this variety.

1292a24It is popular leaders who, by referring all issues to the decision of the people, are responsible for substituting the sovereignty of decrees for that of the laws. The source of their great position is that the people are sovereign in all matters while they themselves, since the multitude follows their guidance, are sovereign over the people's decision. In addition opponents of those who occupy official positions argue 'The people ought to decide': the people accept that invitation readily; and thus all offices lose authority.

1292a28Those who attack this kind of democracy saying that it is not a [true] constitution would appear to be right. Where the laws are not sovereign, there is no constitution. Law should be sovereign on every issue, and the officials and the constitution* should decide about details. It is thus clear that, even if democracy is a form of constitution, this particu-pg 146lar system, under which everything is managed by decrees, is not really a democracy, in the proper sense of the word, for decrees can never be general in character.

The different forms of democracy may thus be defined in this way.