39.
"Some will say that the democracy is neither a well-governed nor a just state, and that the most wealthy are aptest to make the best government.
But I answer first, democracy is a name of the whole, oligarchy but of a part.
Next, though the rich are indeed fittest to keep the treasure, yet the wise are the best counsellors, and the multitude, upon hearing, the best judge.
Now in a democracy all these, both jointly and severally, participate equal privileges.
[2]
But in the oligarchy they allow indeed to the multitude a participation of all dangers, but in matters of profit, they not only encroach upon the multitude, but take from them and keep the whole.
Which is the thing that you the rich and the younger sort affect, but in a great city cannot possibly embrace.
But yet, O ye the most unwise of all men, unless you know that what you affect is evil, and if you know not that, you are the most ignorant of all the Grecians I know;
or, ye most wicked of all men, if knowing it you dare do this.
The English works of Thomas Hobbes of Malmesbury. Thucydides. Thomas Hobbes. translator. London. Bohn. 1843.
This text was converted to electronic form by optical character recognition and has been proofread to a high level of accuracy.
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.
An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.