Ochlocratia
（
ὀχλοκρατία). The dominion of the rabble, or
“mobocracy.” It is a name of later origin than the time of Aristotle, and
applied to that perversion of a democracy which extends the idea far beyond that of a State
where all have equal legal rights and equal franchise, so that the natural and wholesome
inequalities of society were removed or counteracted by the introduction of devices, such as
paying citizens for attendance in the popular assembly, or increasing the number and
restricting the duration and authority of public offices. Hence the exercise of all the
highest functions of government came to be practically in the hands of a mere faction,
consisting of the lowest and poorest, though most numerous, class of citizens, who were thus
tempted to adopt as their vocation that which they would formerly have delegated to others;
and the State came to be regarded as a
property of which each citizen
was entitled to an equal share. In some respects, therefore, it most nearly represents the
modern idea of a socialistic State (Aristot.
Pol. iv. 5).
