[222] ὑμῖν γὰρ ἥρμοττε (222) τετηρῆσθαι καὶ ἐφ´ ὑμῶν πρῶτον εἰρῆσθαι, ὁ δὲ πρότερον τοῦ δέοντος προεξήνεγκεν αὐτό. ἀλλ´ οὖν τό γε Λακεδαιμονίων στρατόπεδον κινδυνεύει τοσούτους εἶναι, ὅσους οὐδὲν ἀπεικὸς καὶ πάντας ἄρχοντας εἶναι· τὸ δ´ ἐν τοσούτοις ἀριθμοῖς καταλόγων τε καὶ γενῶν, ὧν οὐδὲ τὰ ὀνόματα ἐξευρεῖν ῥᾴδιον, ἀρξαμένους ἀπὸ ἑνὸς τοῦ διὰ πάντων διεξιόντος τε καὶ πάντα ἐφορῶντος, ἔθνη, πόλεις, στρατόπεδα, ἡγεμόνας αὐτοὺς τελευτᾶν εἰς ἕνα τεττάρων καὶ δυοῖν ἄρχοντα ἀνδρῶν, τὸ δ´ ἐν μέσῳ πᾶν ἐξελίπομεν, καὶ ὥσπερ νήματος περιστροφὴν ἐκ τῶν πλειόνων εἰς τοὺς ἐλάττους ἀεὶ κατιέναι, καὶ οὕτω διήκειν ἄλλους ἐπ´ ἄλλοις ἀεὶ ταττομένους μέχρι τῆς τελευτῆς, πῶς οὐχ ὑπὲρ πᾶσαν ἀνθρωπίνην τάξιν ἐστίν; ἐπέρχεται δέ μοι τὸ Ὁμηρικὸν εἰπεῖν μικρὸν ἐπὶ τῆς τελευτῆς ὑπαλλάξαντι Ζηνός που τοιήδε γ´ Ὀλυμπίου ἔνδοθεν ἀρχή· ὅταν γὰρ ἄρχῃ μὲν εἷς τοσούτων, οἱ δὲ ἐπ´ αὐτῷ διάκονοί τε καὶ πρέσβεις αὐτοῦ μὲν πολὺ χείρους, ὧν δὲ ἐπιμέλονται πολὺ βελτίους, πάντα δ´ ἄνευ θορύβου καὶ ταραχῆς σιωπῇ περαίνωσι, φθόνος δ´ ἐκποδὼν ᾖ, δίκης δὲ καὶ αἰδοῦς πάντα πανταχοῦ μεστὰ, καρπὸς δὲ ἀρετῆς μηδένα ἐκφεύγῃ, πῶς οὐχὶ νικᾷ τόδε τὸ ἔπος; Δοκεῖ δ´ ἔμοιγε οὐδ´ ἐν αὐτῇ τῇ πόλει πολιτείαν παραπλησίως τισὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἀνθρώπων καταστήσασθαι. πρότερον μὲν γὰρ ἐδόκουν τρεῖς εἶναι κατ´ ἀνθρώπους πολιτεῖαι, δύο μὲν ἐν δυοῖν ὀνόμασιν, ἑκατέρα παρὰ τοὺς τῶν ἐχόντων τρόπους θεωρουμένη, τυραννὶς καὶ ὀλιγαρχία, βασιλεία καὶ ἀριστοκρατία, τρίτον δὲ ὄνομα δημοκρατία, εὖ τε καὶ χεῖρον ἀγομένη. διειλήφεσαν οὖν αἱ πόλεις ὡς ἑκάστοις αἵρεσις ἢ τύχη νικήσειε· τὸ δ´ ὑμέτερον οὐδὲν ὁμοίως ἔχει, ἀλλ´ οἱονεὶ κρᾶσις ἁπασῶν τῶν πολιτειῶν, ἄνευ γε τῆς ἐφ´ ἑκάστῃ χείρονος· οὕτω καὶ τοιοῦτον εἶδος πολιτείας νενίκηκεν. ὥστε ὅταν μὲν εἰς τὴν τοῦ δήμου τις ἰσχὺς βλέψῃ,

[222] The phrase ought to have been saved for you and first uttered in reference to you. He trotted it out too soon. Well, I guess the Lacedaemonian army was so small that no wonder they were all commanders. But your army is such a multitude of units and nationalities that it is not easy even to find out their names; and they are officers, beginning with the one who pervades and watches over all — provinces, cities, camps — and ending with one man in command of two or four. (I have left out everything in between.) The chain of command descends from the larger unit to the smaller like a thread unraveling, and thus passes along through one subordinate after another until the end. Is it not beyond all human organizing technique? It occurs to me to quote a line from Homer, with a slight alteration at the end: "Such the inside of Olympian Zeus's state". When so many are ruled by one, whose ministers and legates, while much inferior to him, are much superior to those in their charge and carry out everything quietly without fuss or disturbance, and when envy is gone and everything everywhere is full of justice and reverence, and the reward of virtue leaves nobody out, then does not this verse hold? I believe that you have also set up a city government here unlike that of any other people. It was formerly held that there are current three forms of government, two of which exist under a double name, depending on the qualities of those in power — tyranny and oligarchy, monarchy and aristocracy; the third is called democracy, and may be well or badly run. Cities have got one of these as choice or chance dictates in each case. Yours, however, is nothing of the sort; but like a blend of all governments, without the bad in each, this form of government has prevalled. Looking at the power of the people,