[551b]
defining
the limits1 of an oligarchical polity,
prescribing2 a
sum of money, a larger sum where it is more3 of an oligarchy, where it
is less a smaller, and proclaiming that no man shall hold office whose
property does not come up to the required valuation? And this law they
either put through by force of arms, or without resorting to that they
establish their government by terrorization.4 Is not that the way of it?” “It
is.” “The establishment then, one may say, is in this
wise.” “Yes,” he said, “but what is
the character of this constitution, and what are the defects that we said
1 ὅρον: cf. 551 C, Laws 714 C, 962 D, 739 D, 626 B, Menex. 238 D, Polit. 293 E, 296 E, 292 C, Lysis 209 C, Aristot.Pol. 1280 a 7, 1271 a 35, and Newman i. p. 220, Eth. Nic. 1138 b 23. Cf. also τέλοςRhet. 1366 a 3. For the true criterion of office-holding see Laws 715 C-D and Isoc. xii. 131. For wealth as the criterion cf. Aristot.Pol. 1273 a 37.
2 For ταξάμενοι cf. Vol. I. p. 310, note c, on 416 E.
3 Cf. Aristot.Pol. 1301 b 13-14.
4 Cf. 557 A.
Plato. Plato in Twelve Volumes, Vols. 5 & 6 translated by Paul Shorey. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1969.
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