CHAPTER VI
It is evident from what has been said, that there are as many
different sorts of democracies and oligarchies as I have reckoned up:
for, of necessity, either all ranks of the people which I have
enumerated must have a share in the government, or some only, and
others not; for when the husbandmen, and those only who possess
moderate fortunes, have the supreme power, they will govern according
to law; for as they must get their livings by their employs, they have
but little leisure for public business: they will therefore establish
proper laws, and never call public assemblies but when there is a
necessity for them; and they will readily let every one partake with
them in the administration of public affairs as soon as they possess
that fortune which the law requires for their qualification: every
one, therefore, who is qualified will have his share in the
government: for to exclude any would be to make the government an
oligarchy, and for all to have leisure to attend without they had a
subsistence would be impossible: for these reasons, therefore, this
government is a species of democracy. Another species is distinguished
by the mode of electing their magistrates, in which every one is
eligible, to whose birth there are no objections, provided he is
supposed to have leisure to attend: for which reason in such a
democracy the supreme power will be vested in the laws, as there will
be nothing paid to those who go to the public assemblies.
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