[555b]
and the oligarchical
state?” “None,” he said.“We have next to consider, it seems, the origin
and nature of democracy, that we may next learn the character of that type
of man and range him beside the others for our judgement.1” “That would at least be a consistent
procedure.” “Then,” said I, “is not
the transition from oligarchy to democracy effected in some such way as
this—by the insatiate greed for that which it set before itself as
the good,2 the attainment of the
greatest possible wealth?”
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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