Pagina 327 van 1391

Then Polemarchus and Adeimantus interrupted you, and this led to

another argument,-and so here we are.' Suppose that we put

ourselves again in the same position, and do you repeat your

question. 'I should like to know of what constitutions you were

speaking?' Besides the perfect State there are only four of any

note in Hellas:-first, the famous Lacedaemonian or Cretan

commonwealth; secondly, oligarchy, a State full of evils;

thirdly, democracy, which follows next in order; fourthly,

tyranny, which is the disease or death of all government. Now,

States are not made of 'oak and rock,' but of flesh and blood;

and therefore as there are five States there must be five human

natures in individuals, which correspond to them. And first,

there is the ambitious nature, which answers to the Lacedaemonian

State; secondly, the oligarchical nature; thirdly, the

democratical; and fourthly, the tyrannical.