142 A RZSTOTL E 'S POLITICS.
- ihh' iurb 4 rrdXtr ;K rroXXiw, Gusrp iudaucs uup+opqr&r KdXiov
rai d?rAjs.
Compare the saying 'that the House of Commons has more
good sense or good taste than any one man in it;' and again,
Burke, ' Besides the characters of the individuzls that compose it,
this house has a collective character of its om.'
si$ roOto Kai Kpivri Zpfrvov z,yXos rrohhh $ ds 6oituo;v.
- itxi 6' Zpyov +a rcivras ipytutljvar KO; dpaprciv.
It is true no doubt that the passions of the multitude ma!
sometimes balance one another. But it is also true that a whole
multitude may be inflamed by sympathy with each other, and
carried away by a groundless suspicion, as in the panic after the
mutilation of the Hermae, or the trial of the generals after the
battle of hrginusae, or the English Popish Plot, or the witch hunt-
ing mania at Salem in Xassachusetts, or the French reign or
'I'error ; and commonly in religious persecutions.
- I 0. aipcrbrcpov iw rrq TI& rrdhurv ;ptnroKparh pnurXcias, ~d pcd 8uvd-
pcws KR~ xwpls Suvcipcws oU"qs $s dpxijs, bv
That is to say aristocracy, or the rule of several good men, is
better than the rule of one--we may leave out the question of pon.er,
if only it be possible to find the many equals who will constitute
this ' aristocracy of virtue.' In other words, the superiority of the
aristocracy, xho are many, to the king, who is one, does not simply
consist in greater strength.
Jpoiour, 'equal in virtue to one another,' an idea which is to be
gathered from the mention of QrmoKparia in the preceding clause,
and explained in the words which follow, n0hh03~ ~~O[OUS vp6s rlpcrh
Xa,%iu IrXdous Bpoious.
4 11.
- I 2. &rti6/v soh rnoyov ysv&&t T&S dhryapxiap.
Yet in v. 12. 4 14 he repudiates the notion of Plat0 that the
state changes into oligarchy, because the ruling class are lovers of
money. Royalty, aristocracy, oligarchy, tyranny, democracy--the
order of succession in this passage-may be compared with that Of
Plato (Rep. viii. and ix)-the perfect state, timocracy, oligarch',
democracy, tyranny. The order in which constitutions succeed 10
one another is discussed in Kic. Eth. viii. IO.
