politics

Chapter 37 Volume (Δ) Four (5)
1294α In addition to this, the meaning of the term aristocracy has another extension, that is, it is believed that any law-abiding regime can be called an aristocracy.It is believed that if the government is governed by the poorer classes instead of the best citizens, it will not lead to the rule of law; conversely, if the government is governed by the virtuous, the law will not be violated.We should note that even if a state has good laws, if the people do not follow them all,5 there can be no rule of law.The rule of law should contain two meanings: one meaning is that established laws can be generally obeyed by the people, and the other meaning is that the laws that everyone obeys must be good laws.Of course, people can obey both good and bad laws.Obedience to good law includes two kinds: one kind is willing to obey the best and possible law, and the other kind is willing to obey the absolutely good law.If it is cited in the sense of the rule of law, the aristocracy mainly refers to the 10 city-states that already have good laws.

It can be said that virtue is a characteristic of aristocratic regimes, since virtue is the basis for appointment to public office (name).Similarly, oligarchy is characterized by wealth, and plebiscite by freemanhood.What is common to all regimes is majority decision followed by executive order.The decision of the majority of all citizens entitled to political rights is the final judgment, and this has the highest authority whether in oligarchy, aristocracy, or common government.In fact, in many city-states, the type of so-called republican government is just pretending to borrow a more pleasant name 15b1293-38a1294, which seems to involve aristocratic government, but actually demonstrates the difference between aristocratic government and republican government.Obedience to the law and respect for virtue are two virtues of aristocratic government, but as these two virtues are often found only in wealthy people, so like republics with mixed rich and poor, those who have property in all states The regimes of the founders are often referred to as "aristocratic regimes".

According to 1294a9-14, even if the aristocratic regime does not use "talent" as the only basis, it must also use "talent" as the main basis for judging the form of the regime; The city-state cannot be called an aristocracy. .As far as the purpose is concerned, the republic is just a mixture of the rich and the poor, taking into account the bourgeoisie and the free-born people; and the reason why people use the nice name of the aristocratic government is because they see that there are rich people in the city-state. , thus reminiscent of the aristocracy.In fact, the three equally important factors of free birth, wealth, and virtue all exist in mixed regimes.Sometimes, people also list Menwang (nobles) as the fourth element in judging a regime, because nobles are all descendants of wealthy and virtuous people, so the aristocracy is just a derivative of those two elements.Based on this reasoning, we should call a regime with a mixture of two elements, rich and poor, a republic, and a regime with a mixture of three elements an aristocratic regime. a true aristocracy, but a far better one than that which pretends to be an aristocracy of any kind, and which does what the aristocracy wants.So far we have explained the other types of government and their properties besides monarchy, plebeian government and oligarchy, and also analyzed the difference between republic and aristocracy (these two governments are indeed similar and confusing. ), and also illustrates the difference between aristocracy and other forms of government. 20
Chapter Nine
We can then discuss the reasons why republics can exist alongside plebeians and oligarchies, and how this type of government is organized.At the same time, the individual nature of the civilian regime and the oligarchy must also be clearly analyzed, so as to clarify the differences between the two types of regimes, and then use them as a letter35 (two coins of a coin: ancient When Greece makes a commercial or other contract, a coin is divided into two pieces, and each side holds one, which is used as a letter.) Combined to form a republic.There are three principles by which such a patchwork or mixture of regimes can be followed: The first is the simultaneous adoption of the two types of law, the plebiscite and the oligarchy.Let us illustrate with the example of jury seats in a court: the oligarchy stipulates that the rich pay a penalty of 40 if they do not attend the court as jurors, while the poor, on the other hand, receive no allowance for their attendance.The civil government stipulated that the rich would not be punished for absenteeism, and the poor could receive subsidies from the city-state for their attendance.After comparing these two regulations, we can get an intermediate type. The rich must pay a fine for absence, and the poor can get subsidies for attendance, which means that both rich and poor will attend.This is the measure taken by the republic so that the poor and the rich alike can vote in the courts without favoring one side in adjudicating cases.See Chapter 1279 38a[-].

The reader must note that the ancient Greek "courts" were not the same courts with permanent judges we see today.They decide the outcome of the case by the number of jurors present and voting on both sides of the lawsuit. , so that after merging the two regimes, taking the form between them is the essence of the republic. 1294b The second principle is to compromise and average the two types of regulations.For example, if one type of government stipulates the qualifications of people attending the Citizens' Assembly, there is no property qualification at all, or only a very low amount of property is stipulated as the qualification for attendance, and another type of government restricts the attendance of the Citizens' Assembly. The personnel qualifications set up high property conditions.In this case, neither of the two types of regulation applies, 5 and we must then settle for a compromise amount, that is, to average the two amounts.The third principle is to select and mix some factors in the oligarchy and the civilian government, which is different from the first principle, which takes both types of laws and regulations, and also different from the second principle, which is a compromise.Taking the appointment of administrative personnel as an example, civilian regimes generally adopt the method of casting lots (drawing lots), while oligarchic regimes use the election method.For another example, the oligarchic government uses property qualifications as a restriction on the appointment of administrative personnel, while the civilian government has no property qualification restrictions at all.The republic (or mixed aristocracy) takes part of the conditions of the above two regimes, that is, adopts the election law of the oligarchy as the way of appointing officials, and does not use property qualifications as restrictions in the civilian regime.

Here we have illustrated the general approach for mixed regimes.If a political system has mixed common government and oligarchic government, and people call it a common people city-state or an oligarchic city-state, and it is no longer possible to distinguish between the two, this shows that the two political systems have been mixed very carefully.At this time, such a mixture has been assembled into an intermediate system; at both ends, the traces of the original regime can be traced by the intermediate, so people sometimes use the original name for both.We may take the Lacedaemonian 15 (Spartan) regime as an example.The Lacedaemonian government was considered by many to be democratic because of some of the characteristics of the democratic spirit.These democratic spirits are manifested in the following aspects: First, in Sparta, the upbringing of children is the same for the rich and the poor, regardless of whether the children of the rich or the poor, they educate them with the same cultural standards.Likewise, the policy is the same in the education of youth and men.The lack of difference between the rich and the poor is also reflected in food and clothing: on the public dining table, regardless of whether the rich or the poor, 20 the same food is placed in front of them. Refer to Volume II 25a1271. ; in clothing, the rich and the poor wear the same style of extremely modest clothing.

Second, for the two highest institutions in the state, the House of Elders and the Board of Supervisors, the people respectively have the right to vote for the elders in the House of Elders and the right to be elected as supervisors to the Board of Supervisors. Please refer to volume 1270, 17b29-30. .However, there are also those who consider the Lacedaemonian (Spartan) regime to be an oligarchy,2 because it had many oligarchic features.For example, with regard to the appointment of executive officers, Sparta all decided by election, and did not cast lots at all; as for the death penalty or banishment, only a few people had the right to decide. referendum; in the oligarchy or Sparta, which is called the aristocracy, both felonies were decided by the Senate (see Xenophon: "Republic of Rageni" x 35). ; There are many other features like this.From this point of view, a well-mixed republic should have both the elements of the civilian regime and the oligarchy, and it seems that it does not have the characteristics of both regimes.The stability required by the republic should depend on the internal balance of power,[-] rather than the support of external forces; as far as internal strength is concerned, it is not enough for this system to be maintained by the majority, because even a bad regime may be supported by the majority. Therefore, such a regime is stable only if there is no will to change the existing system in the whole state.

40 Here we have explained the manner in which a republic is organized, and other mixed methods which are called aristocracy, but are in fact mixed.

Chapter Ten
1295α Next, I state tyranny, which is the other type of government that remains.In fact, there is not much we can discuss about tyranny, but since it is a type of government, we must study it together.Tyranny is a variant of monarchy, of which we have dealt with Chapters XIV-XVII of Book III in the earlier chapters of this treatise. , the monarchy mentioned there is based on the customary system and the meaning of the words. regime.When studying the monarchy (royal system), we also mentioned Chapter 5 1285a16-b3 of Volume III of Two Tyrannical Governments. Since these two kinds of tyranny maintain the spirit of the rule of law, their nature is similar to that of the monarchy, so they can also be called the monarchy.These 10 types of government are ([-]) autocratic monarchy, that is, an autocratic monarch with absolute power respected by some barbaric peoples (non-Greek peoples); A form of government similar to that of a monarch.There are differences between these two tyrants (monarchs), but both regimes can be said to be half-king and half-tyrant systems, that is, their establishment is based on public opinion, and their ruling methods follow the rule of law. consistent with the characteristics of a monarchy.

Here, the ruler's will has the highest authority, showing the sentiment of master and slave.Here, however, there is a third type of tyranny, 15 which is the typical type of true tyranny that everyone often sees, and it is also the opposite type of absolute monarchy ("plenitarian monarchy"). 1287a9–15. .When one person alone governs all the people who are equal to or better than him in the whole country, he puts his own interests in the highest position when governing, and does not care about the public welfare of the people at all. In addition, no person or institution can restrict His personal power, which became the third type of tyranny, that is, rule by violence,20 a system which, of course, no free man in the world would tolerate. The tyranny of the Greek states first arose in the seventh century B.C.

Generally speaking, tyrants are born nobles, using the common people to destroy the leadership of the clan elders, monopolize the rule, and usurp the kingship.At that time, slave production flourished and the clan economy declined. The tyrants used slaves to develop agriculture and industry, which also promoted the development of civilian power.Between the sixth and fifth centuries BC, many tyrant regimes were successively overthrown by oligarchs and civilian forces.Until the fourth century BC, due to frequent wars, the situation in each state was similar: middle-class homes were desolate, free citizens were increasingly miserable, and they were unable to arm themselves, and civilians or republics based on the "citizen-warriors" of the entire state were also in danger. Gradually declined, so the rich raised soldiers with private funds and owned a "mercenary army".When the city-state has internal strife or foreign troubles, these tyrants or mercenary generals often take the opportunity to steal the state affairs, and because of this, the tyranny flourishes. .

There are altogether three classes of tyranny, and we have here explained each of these varieties, and the reasons for their differences.

Chapter Eleven
What we should now consider is what kind of government and which way of life is best for most cities and human beings. This chapter is the second item of the research procedure listed in the last section of chapter two (25b1289-15).According to Volume 17, Chapter 1290, 6a11-1280, the regime is the way the city-state arranges public offices; according to Volume 38, Chapter 1281, 10a30-35a[-], the regime is related to the way of life of the people in the whole state. The regime mentioned in this chapter includes both of these terms. , the excellence we are talking about here does not refer to the standard that ordinary people cannot achieve, or the standard that can be achieved by those who must have special talents and have received special education, let alone those who think that only ideal regimes can achieve As a standard, we are conducting research on the [-] regimes that most city-states can accept and the lives that most people can practice.The so-called "aristocratic regime" we have just talked about, its good end is beyond the reach of most city-states. As for its tendency towards the other end, it is closely related to the so-called republican government. What can be called a republic should not be called an aristocracy,[-] and therefore aristocratic government is not suitable for our present topic.

We can conclude the whole problem we are now working on by citing some implications. In "Ethics", see "Niron" Volume 1098 16a1153, Volume 10 1177b12 and Volume 40 [-]a[-].Said: ([-]) Freedom from boredom The so-called "freedom from boredom" (νεμπóλισον) refers to a person who has sufficient means of living, neither worries about material poverty nor encumbered by wealth, but is healthy and free from disease. Tired.([-]) Practicing the golden mean is the expression of goodness.If we think this statement is indeed true, then walking in the mean should be the best way of life for most people, that is, living in the mean that everyone can achieve What Aristotle called "the mean" ( μεσóηο) refers to the fact that both general morality and individual morality are equal. For example, when people encounter danger, some people show arrogance and some people show cowardice. This is not the mean, only courage can meet the mean. .At the same time, the same criteria that are used to judge the quality of life of each citizen in the body of citizens of the city-state apply to the good or bad of the regime. [-] For a regime is inherently the norm for the life of citizens (groups and individuals).

(End of this chapter)