Jowett: democracy

I can give you as proofs of this, not words only, but deeds, which you value more than words. Let me tell you a passage of my own life, which will prove to you that I should never have yielded to injustice from any fear of death, and that if I had not yielded I should have died at once. I will tell you a story — tasteless, perhaps, and commonplace, but nevertheless true. The only office of state which I ever held, O men of Athens, was that of senator ; the tribe Antiochis, which is my tribe, had the presidency at the trial of the generals who had not taken up the bodies of the slain after the battle of Arginusae ; and you proposed to try them all together, which was illegal, as you all thought afterwards ; but at the time I was the only one of the Prytanes who was opposed to the illegality, and I gave my vote against you ; and when the orators threatened to impeach and arrest me, and have me taken away, and you called and shouted, I made up my mind that I would run the risk, having law and justice with me, rather than take part in your injustice because I feared imprisonment and death. This happened in the days of the democracy. But when the oligarchy of the Thirty was in power, they sent for me and four others into the rotunda, and bade us bring Leon the Salaminian from Salamis, as they wanted to execute him. This was a specimen of the sort of commands which they were always giving with the view of implicating as many as possible in their crimes ; and then I showed, not in words only, but in deed, that, if I may be allowed to use such an expression, I cared not a straw for death, and that my only fear was the fear of doing an unrighteous or unholy thing. For the strong arm of that oppressive power did not frighten me into doing wrong ; and when we came out of the rotunda the other four went to Salamis and fetched Leon, but I went quietly home. For which I might have lost my life, had not the power of the Thirty shortly afterwards come to an end. And to this many will witness. APOLOGY

That Socrates   was not a good citizen was a charge made against him during his lifetime, which has been often repeated in later ages. The crimes of Alcibiades, Critias  , and Charmides  , who had been his pupils, were still recent in the memory of the now restored democracy. The fact that he had been neutral in the death struggle of Athens was not likely to conciliate popular good-will. Plato, writing probably in the next generation, undertakes the defence of his friend and master in this particular, not to the Athenians of his day, but to posterity and the world at large. CRITO  

Str. Is not the third form of government the rule of the multitude, which is called by the name of democracy ? STATESMAN

Str. Monarchy divides into royalty and tyranny ; the rule of the few into aristocracy, which has an auspicious name, and oligarchy ; and democracy or the rule of the many, which before was one, must now be divided. STATESMAN

Str. The government of the few which is intermediate between that of the one and many ; is also intermediate in good and evil ; but the government of the many is in every respect weak and unable to do either any great good or any great evil, when compared with the others, because the offices are too minutely subdivided and too many hold them. And this therefore is the worst of all lawful governments, and the best of all lawless ones. If they are all without the restraints of law, democracy is the form in which to live is best ; if they are well ordered then this is the last which you should choose, as royalty, the first form, is the best, with the exception of the seventh for that excels them all, and is among States what God is among men. STATESMAN

Ath. Hear me, then : there are two mother forms of states from which the rest may be truly said to be derived ; and one of them may be called monarchy and the other democracy : the Persians have the highest form of the one, and we of the other ; almost all the rest, as I was saying, are variations of these. Now, if you are to have liberty and the combination of friendship with wisdom, you must have both these forms of government in a measure ; the argument emphatically declares that no city can be well governed which is not made up of both. LAWS BOOK III

Ath. In the first place, let us speak of the laws about music — that is to say, such music as then existed — in order that we may trace the growth of the excess of freedom from the beginning. Now music was early divided among us into certain kinds and manners. One sort consisted of prayers to the Gods, which were called hymns ; and there was another and opposite sort called lamentations, and another termed paeans, and another, celebrating the birth of Dionysus, called, I believe, "dithyrambs." And they used the actual word "laws," or nomoi, for another kind of song ; and to this they added the term "citharoedic." All these and others were duly distinguished, nor were the performers allowed to confuse one style of music with another. And the authority which determined and gave judgment, and punished the disobedient, was not expressed in a hiss, nor in the most unmusical shouts of the multitude, as in our days, nor in applause and clapping of hands. But the directors of public instruction insisted that the spectators should listen in silence to the end ; and boys and their tutors, and the multitude in general, were kept quiet by a hint from a stick. Such was the good order which the multitude were willing to observe ; they would never have dared to give judgment by noisy cries. And then, as time went on, the poets themselves introduced the reign of vulgar and lawless innovation. They were men of genius, but they had no perception of what is just and lawful in music ; raging like Bacchanals and possessed with inordinate delights-mingling lamentations with hymns, and paeans with dithyrambs ; imitating the sounds of the flute on the lyre, and making one general confusion ; ignorantly affirming that music has no truth, and, whether good or bad, can only be judged of rightly by the pleasure of the hearer. And by composing such licentious works, and adding to them words as licentious, they have inspired the multitude with lawlessness and boldness, and made them fancy that they can judge for themselves about melody and song. And in this way the theatres from being mute have become vocal, as though they had understanding of good and bad in music and poetry ; and instead of an aristocracy, an evil sort of theatrocracy has grown up. For if the democracy which judged had only consisted of educated persons, no fatal harm would have been done ; but in music there first arose the universal conceit of omniscience and general lawlessness ; — freedom came following afterwards, and men, fancying that they knew what they did not know, had no longer any fear, and the absence of fear begets shamelessness. For what is this shamelessness, which is so evil a thing, but the insolent refusal to regard the opinion of the better by reason of an over-daring sort of liberty ? LAWS BOOK III

Cle. You mean to say, I suppose, that the best government is produced from a tyranny, and originates in a good lawgiver and an orderly tyrant, and that the change from such a tyranny into a perfect form of government takes place most easily ; less easily when from an oligarchy ; and, in the third degree, from a democracy : is not that your meaning ? LAWS BOOK IV

Ath. Not so ; I mean rather to say that the change is best made out of a tyranny ; and secondly, out of a monarchy ; and thirdly, out of some sort of democracy : fourth, in the capacity for improvement, comes oligarchy, which has the greatest difficulty in admitting of such a change, because the government is in the hands of a number of potentates. I am supposing that the legislator is by nature of the true sort, and that his strength is united with that of the chief men of the state ; and when the ruling element is numerically small, and at the same time very strong, as in a tyranny, there the change is likely to be easiest and most rapid. LAWS BOOK IV

Cle. Tell us what you mean a little more clearly. Do you mean some form of democracy, or oligarchy, or aristocracy, or monarchy ? For we cannot suppose that you would include tyranny. LAWS BOOK IV

Ath. I will do as you suggest. There is a tradition of the happy life of mankind in days when all things were spontaneous and abundant. And of this the reason is said to have been as follows : — Cronos knew what we ourselves were declaring, that no human nature invested with supreme power is able to order human affairs and not overflow with insolence and wrong. Which reflection led him to appoint not men but demigods, who are of a higher and more divine race, to be the kings and rulers of our cities ; he did as we do with flocks of sheep and other tame animals. For we do not appoint oxen to be the lords of oxen, or goats of goats ; but we ourselves are a superior race, and rule over them. In like manner God, in his love of mankind, placed over us the demons, who are a superior race, and they with great case and pleasure to themselves, and no less to us, taking care us and giving us peace and reverence and order and justice never failing, made the tribes of men happy and united. And this tradition, which is true, declares that cities of which some mortal man and not God is the ruler, have no escape from evils and toils. Still we must do all that we can to imitate the life which is said to have existed in the days of Cronos, and, as far as the principle of immortality dwells in us, to that we must hearken, both in private and public life, and regulate our cities and houses according to law, meaning by the very term "law," the distribution of mind. But if either a single person or an oligarchy or a democracy has a soul eager after pleasures and desires — wanting to be filled with them, yet retaining none of them, and perpetually afflicted with an endless and insatiable disorder ; and this evil spirit, having first trampled the laws under foot, becomes the master either of a state or of an individual — then, as I was saying, salvation is hopeless. And now, Cleinias, we have to consider whether you will or will not accept this tale of mine. LAWS BOOK IV

Ath. "Well," they would add, "and do you suppose that tyranny or democracy, or any other conquering power, does not make the continuance of the power which is possessed by them the first or principal object of their laws ?" LAWS BOOK IV

The mode of election which has been described is in a mean between monarchy and democracy, and such a mean the state ought always to observe ; for servants and masters never can be friends, nor good and bad, merely because they are declared to have equal privileges. For to unequals equals become unequal, if they are not harmonized by measure ; and both by reason of equality, and by reason of inequality, cities are filled with seditions. The old saying, that "equality makes friendship," is happy and also true ; but there is obscurity and confusion as to what sort of equality is meant. For there are two equalities which are called by the same name, but are in reality in many ways almost the opposite of one another ; one of them may be introduced without difficulty, by any state or any legislator in the distribution of honours : this is the rule of measure, weight, and number, which regulates and apportions them. But there is another equality, of a better and higher kind, which is not so easily recognized. This is the judgment of Zeus ; among men it avails but little ; that little, however, is the source of the greatest good to individuals and states. For it gives to the greater more, and to the inferior less and in proportion to the nature of each ; and, above all, greater honour always to the greater virtue, and to the less less ; and to either in proportion to their respective measure of virtue and education. And this is justice, and is ever the true principle of states, at which we ought to aim, and according to this rule order the new city which is now being founded, and any other city which may be hereafter founded. To this the legislator should look — not to the interests of tyrants one or more, or to the power of the people, but to justice always ; which, as I was saying, the distribution of natural equality among unequals in each case. But there are times at which every state is compelled to use the words, "just," "equal," in a secondary sense, in the hope of escaping in some degree from factions. For equity and indulgence are infractions of the perfect and strict rule of justice. And this is the reason why we are obliged to use the equality of the lot, in order to avoid the discontent of the people ; and so we invoke God and fortune in our prayers, and beg that they themselves will direct the lot with a view to supreme justice. And therefore, although we are compelled to use both equalities, we should use that into which the element of chance enters as seldom as possible. LAWS BOOK VI

Ath. I say that governments are a cause — democracy, oligarchy, tyranny, concerning which I have often spoken in the previous discourse ; or rather governments they are not, for none of them exercises a voluntary rule over voluntary subjects ; but they may be truly called states of discord, in which while the government is voluntary, the subjects always obey against their will, and have to be coerced ; and the ruler fears the subject, and will not, if he can help, allow him to become either noble, or rich, or strong, or valiant, or warlike at all. These two are the chief causes of almost all evils, and of the evils of which I have been speaking they are notably the causes. But our state has escaped both of them ; for her citizens have the greatest leisure, and they are not subject to one another, and will, I think, be made by these laws the reverse of lovers   of money. Such a constitution may be reasonably supposed to be the only one existing which will accept the education which we have described, and the martial pastimes which have been perfected according to our idea. LAWS BOOK VIII

I counselled Euphraeus, in accordance with your message, to devote his time to the task of caring for your interests ; and I feel myself bound also to give you friendly, and what is called "sacred," counsel [5.321d] both about the other matters you mention and as to how you ought now to make use of Euphraeus. For the man is useful for many things, the most important being that in which you yourself are deficient owing to your youth, and also because it is a matter about which there are not many counsellors available for the young. For forms of government, like animals, have each their own kind of language, one for democracy, another for oligarchy, and a third kind for monarchy ; and though a vast number of people would assert that they understand these languages, yet all but a few of them [5.321e] are very far indeed from discerning them. Now each of these polities, if it speaks its own language both to gods and to men, and renders its actions conformable to its language, remains always flourishing and secure ; but if it imitates another it becomes corrupted. It is for this study, then, that Euphraeus will be specially useful to you, although there are also other studies in which he is competent. For he, I hope, will help you to explore the speech of monarchy [5.322a] as well as any of the persons you employ. So if you make use of him for this purpose you will not only benefit yourself but will also be helping him immensely. Suppose, however, that on hearing this someone were to say : "Plato, as it seems, is claiming to know what is of advantage to democracy ; yet when he has had it in his power to speak before the demos and to counsel it for the best he has never yet stood up and made a speech" — to this you may reply that "Plato was born late in the history of his country, and he found the demos [5.322b] already old and habituated by the previous statesmen to do many things at variance with his own counsel. For he would have given counsel to it, as to his father, with the greatest possible pleasure, had he not supposed that he would be running risks in vain, and would do no good. And I suppose that he would do the same as regards counselling me. For if he deemed us to be in an incurable state, he would bid us a long farewell and leave off giving counsel about me or my affairs." [5.322c] Good-luck be thine ! LETTERS LETTER V

That question, I said, is easily answered : the four governments of which I spoke, so far as they have distinct names, are first, those of Crete and Sparta, which are generally applauded ; what is termed oligarchy comes next ; this is not equally approved, and is a form of government which teems with evils : thirdly, democracy, which naturally follows oligarchy, although very different : and lastly comes tyranny, great and famous, which differs from them all, and is the fourth and worst disorder of a State. I do not know, do you ? of any other constitution which can be said to have a distinct character. There are lordships and principalities which are bought and sold, and some other intermediate forms of government. But these are nondescripts and may be found equally among Hellenes and among barbarians. THE REPUBLIC   BOOK VIII

Shall we follow our old plan, which we adopted with a view to clearness, of taking the State first and then proceeding to the individual, and begin with the government of honor ? — I know of no name for such a government other than timocracy or perhaps timarchy. We will compare with this the like character in the individual ; and, after that, consider oligarchy and the oligarchical man ; and then again we will turn our attention to democracy and the democratical man ; and lastly, we will go and view the city of tyranny, and once more take a look into the tyrant’s soul, and try to arrive at a satisfactory decision. THE REPUBLIC BOOK VIII

Next comes democracy ; of this the origin and nature have still to be considered by us ; and then we will inquire into the ways of the democratic man, and bring him up for judgment. THE REPUBLIC BOOK VIII

Well, I said, and how does the change from oligarchy into democracy arise ? Is it not on this wise : the good at which such a State aims is to become as rich as possible, a desire which is insatiable ? THE REPUBLIC BOOK VIII

And then democracy comes into being after the poor have conquered their opponents, slaughtering some and banishing some, while to the remainder they give an equal share of freedom and power ; and this is the form of government in which the magistrates are commonly elected by lot. THE REPUBLIC BOOK VIII

Yes, he said, that is the nature of democracy, whether the revolution has been effected by arms, or whether fear has caused the opposite party to withdraw. THE REPUBLIC BOOK VIII

Because of the liberty which reigns there — they have a complete assortment of constitutions ; and he who has a mind to establish a State, as we have been doing, must go to a democracy as he would to a bazaar at which they sell them, and pick out the one that suits him ; then, when he has made his choice, he may found his State. THE REPUBLIC BOOK VIII

And is not their humanity to the condemned in some cases quite charming ? Have you not observed how, in a democracy, many persons, although they have been sentenced to death or exile, just stay where they are and walk about the world — the gentleman parades like a hero, and nobody sees or cares ? THE REPUBLIC BOOK VIII

Yes, he replied, many and many a one. See, too, I said, the forgiving spirit of democracy, and the "don’t care" about trifles, and the disregard which she shows of all the fine principles which we solemnly laid down at the foundation of the city — as when we said that, except in the case of some rarely gifted nature, there never will be a good man who has not from his childhood been used to play amid things of beauty and make of them a joy and a study — how grandly does she trample all these fine notions of ours under her feet, never giving a thought to the pursuits which make a statesman, and promoting to honor anyone who professes to be the people’s friend. THE REPUBLIC BOOK VIII

These and other kindred characteristics are proper to democracy, which is a charming form of government, full of variety and disorder, and dispensing a sort of equality to equals and unequals alike. THE REPUBLIC BOOK VIII

Let him then be set over against democracy ; he may truly be called the democratic man. THE REPUBLIC BOOK VIII

And does not tyranny spring from democracy in the same manner as democracy from oligarchy — I mean, after a sort ? THE REPUBLIC BOOK VIII

And democracy has her own good, of which the insatiable desire brings her to dissolution ? THE REPUBLIC BOOK VIII

Freedom, I replied ; which, as they tell you in a democracy, is the glory of the State — and that therefore in a democracy alone will the freeman of nature deign to dwell. THE REPUBLIC BOOK VIII

I was going to observe, that the insatiable desire of this and the neglect of other things introduce the change in democracy, which occasions a demand for tyranny. THE REPUBLIC BOOK VIII

When a democracy which is thirsting for freedom has evil cup-bearers presiding over the feast, and has drunk too deeply of the strong wine of freedom, then, unless her rulers are very amenable and give a plentiful draught, she calls them to account and punishes them, and says that they are cursed oligarchs. THE REPUBLIC BOOK VIII

That is what I am doing, I replied ; and I must add that no one who does not know would believe how much greater is the liberty which the animals who are under the dominion of man have in a democracy than in any other State : for, truly, the she-dogs, as the proverb says, are as good as their she-mistresses, and the horses and asses have a way of marching along with all the rights and dignities of freemen ; and they will run at anybody who comes in their way if he does not leave the road clear for them : and all things are just ready to burst with liberty. THE REPUBLIC BOOK VIII

The ruin of oligarchy is the ruin of democracy ; the same disease magnified and intensified by liberty overmasters democracy — the truth being that the excessive increase of anything often causes a reaction in the opposite direction ; and this is the case not only in the seasons and in vegetable and animal life, but above all in forms of government. THE REPUBLIC BOOK VIII

And so tyranny naturally arises out of democracy, and the most aggravated form of tyranny and slavery out of the most extreme form of liberty ? THE REPUBLIC BOOK VIII

That, however, was not, as I believe, your question — you rather desired to know what is that disorder which is generated alike in oligarchy and democracy, and is the ruin of both ? THE REPUBLIC BOOK VIII

Then, in order that we may see clearly what we are doing, let us imagine democracy to be divided, as indeed it is, into three classes ; for in the first place freedom creates rather more drones in the democratic than there were in the oligarchical State. THE REPUBLIC BOOK VIII

And in the democracy they are certainly more intensified. THE REPUBLIC BOOK VIII

Because in the oligarchical State they are disqualified and driven from office, and therefore they cannot train or gather strength ; whereas in a democracy they are almost the entire ruling power, and while the keener sort speak and act, the rest keep buzzing about the bema and do not suffer a word to be said on the other side ; hence in democracies almost everything is managed by the drones. THE REPUBLIC BOOK VIII

The people are a third class, consisting of those who work with their own hands ; they are not politicians, and have not much to live upon. This, when assembled, is the largest and most powerful class in a democracy. THE REPUBLIC BOOK VIII

Very well ; and may we not rightly say that we have sufficiently discussed the nature of tyranny, and the manner of the transition from democracy to tyranny ? THE REPUBLIC BOOK VIII