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πάντα γένη κτλ. Cf. Laws 681 D πολιτείας σχῆμαἐν δὴ πάντα εἴδη καὶ παθήματα πολιτειῶν καὶ ἅμα πόλεων ξυμπίπτει γίγνεσθαι. On ἐξουσίαν see 557 B note

τοῦτον ἐκλέξασθαι κτλ. Pericles (Thuc. II 37. 1) regarded the Athenian constitution as a παράδειγμα: Plato humorously describes it as a motley aggregate of παραδείγματα. Democracy is πόλεις παμπολλαί, ἀλλ᾽ οὐ πόλις, the different varieties of individuals living in it representing so many different constitutions. In view of 561 C we may even go farther, and say that every democratical individual is himself a kaleidoscopic succession of polities—χαμαιλέων τις καὶ σαθρῶς ἰδρυμένος (ap. Arist. Eth. Nic. I 11. 1100^{b} 6). Hence, as Plato would hold, the waywardness and instability of democratic policy, constantly reversing to-morrow what it decrees today. See Thuc. I 44, II 65, III 36 ff., IV 28 and VIII 1. Democracy in fact, from Plato's point of view, is the political expression of monochronous Hedonism: cf. 558 A and 561 C notes

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