Aristotle

Aristotle (c. 384-322 BCE)

“A democracy exists whenever those who are free and are not well-off, being in the majority, are in sovereign control of government, an oligarchy [exists] when control lies with the rich and better-off, these being few.”

• From Aristotle’s Politics (Bekker page 1290b), translated by T. A. Sinclair and revised by T. J. Saunders (Penguin Classics, 1962, 1981, 1992).