Texte grec :
| [3,45] τρία γὰρ εἴδη, τὰ φανερώτατα, πολιτειῶν {ὀνομάζεται} γιγνομένων κατὰ
νόμον καὶ δίκην μετὰ δαίμονός τε ἀγαθοῦ καὶ τύχης ὁμοίας· μία μὲν ἡ πρώτη
καὶ μάλιστα συμβῆναι δυνατή, περὶ ἧς ὁ νῦν λόγος, εὖ διοικουμένης
πόλεως ἢ πλειόνων ἐθνῶν ἢ ξυμπάντων ἀνθρώπων ἑνὸς ἀνδρὸς ἀγαθοῦ
γνώμῃ καὶ ἀρετῇ·
(46) δευτέρα δὲ ἀριστοκρατία καλουμένη, οὔτε ἑνὸς
οὔτε πολλῶν τινων, ἀλλὰ ὀλίγων τῶν ἀρίστων ἡγουμένων, πλεῖον
ἀπέχουσα ἤδη τοῦ δυνατοῦ καὶ τοῦ συμφέροντος· {τοῦτο ἔμοιγε
δοκεῖ καὶ Ὅμηρος εἰπεῖν διανοηθείς,
οὐκ ἀγαθὸν πολυκοιρανίη· εἷς κοίρανος ἔστω,
εἷς βασιλεύς, ᾧ ἔδωκε Κρόνου παῖς ἀγκυλομήτεω.}
(47) τρίτη δὲ πασῶν ἀδυνατωτάτη σχεδὸν ἡ σωφροσύνῃ καὶ ἀρετῇ
δήμου προσδοκῶσά ποτε εὑρήσειν κατάστασιν ἐπιεικῆ καὶ νόμιμον,
δημοκρατία προσαγορευομένη, ἐπιεικὲς ὄνομα καὶ πρᾷον, εἴπερ ἦν δυνατόν.
(48) τρισὶ δὲ ταύταις, ὥσπερ εἴρηται, πολιτείαις τρεῖς ἐναντίαι
{καὶ} παράνομοι διαφθοραί, ἡ μὲν πρώτη {τε καὶ ἀρίστη καὶ μόνη
δυνατή}, τυραννίς, ἑνὸς ὕβρει καὶ βίᾳ τοῦ κακίστου τῶν ἄλλων
ἀπολλυμένων· ἡ δὲ μετ´ ἐκείνην ὀλιγαρχία, σκληρὰ καὶ ἄδικος
πλεονεξία πλουσίων τινῶν καὶ πονηρῶν ὀλίγων ἐπὶ τοὺς πολλοὺς
καὶ ἀπόρους συστᾶσα·
(49) ἡ δὲ ἑξῆς ποικίλη καὶ παντοδαπὴ φορὰ
πλήθους οὐδὲν εἰδότος ἁπλῶς, ταραττομένου δὲ ἀεὶ καὶ ἀγριαίνοντος ὑπὸ
ἀκολάστων δημαγωγῶν, ὥσπερ κλύδωνος ἀγρίου καὶ χαλεποῦ
ὑπὸ ἀνέμων σκληρῶν μεταβαλλομένου. τούτων μὲν οὖν ὁ λόγος
ἄλλως ἐπεμνήσθη, πολλὰ παθήματα καὶ συμφορὰς ἑκάστης αὐτῶν
ἐκ τοῦ πρότερον χρόνου δεῖξαι δυνάμενος·
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Traduction française :
| [3,45] The three most conspicuous forms of government
governments based on law and justice and enjoying
the favour of heaven and fortuneare expressly named.
One is the first to come into existence and
the most practicable that which forms the subject
of the present addresswhere we have a city, or a
number of peoples, or the whole world, well ordered
by one good man's judgment and virtue; second,
the so-called " aristocracy," where not one man, nor
a considerable number of men, but a few, and they the
best, are in controla form of government, at length,
far from being either practicable or expedient. It
seerns to me that Homer too had this in mind when
he said : " The rule
Of the many is not well. One must be chief
In war, and one the king, to whom the son
Of Cronus, crafty in counsel, the sceptre dothgive."
Third, possibly the most impracticable one of all, the
one that expects by the self-control and virtue of the
common people some day to find an equitable
constitution based on law. Men call it " democracy "
a specious and inoffensive name, if the thing were
but practicable.
(48) To these forms of governmentthree in number,
as I have saidare opposed three degenerate forms
not based on law : The first is " tyranny," where one
man's high-handed use of force is the ruin of the
others. Next comes oligarchy, harsh and unjust,
arising from the aggrandizement of a certain few
wealthy rascals at the expense of the needy masses.
The next in order is a motley impulsive mob of all
sorts and conditions of men who know absolutely
nothing but are always kept in a state of confusion and
anger by unscrupulous demagogues, just as a wild
rough sea is whipped this way and that by the fierce blasts.
These degenerate forms I have merely touched on
in passing, though I could point to many mischances
and disasters that each of them has suffered in the past,
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