Having established these points, we proceed next to consider whether one form of government only should be established, or more than one; and if more, how many, and of what sort, and what are the differences between them.
The form of government is the ordering and regulating of the city, and all the offices in it, particularly those wherein the supreme power is lodged; and this power is always possessed by the administration; but the administration itself is that particular form of government which is established in any state: thus in a democracy the supreme power is lodged in the whole people; on the contrary, in an oligarchy it is in the hands of a few.
We say then, that the form of government in these states is different, and we shall find the same thing hold good in others.
- Let us first determine for whose sake a city is established;
- and point out the different species of rule which man may submit to in social life.
Ya he mencionado en mi tratado sobre la administración de la familia y el poder del amo que el hombre es un animal formado por naturaleza para la sociedad, y que por tanto, cuando no necesita de ninguna ayuda ajena, desea por propia iniciativa vivir con los demás; no es que la ventaja mutua no les impulse a ello, en la medida en que permite a cada persona vivir más agradablemente; y este es, en verdad, el gran objetivo tanto para todos en general como para cada individuo en particular: mas no es meramente una cuestión de elección, sino que se unen en sociedad también para poder vivir, lo cual probablemente no carece de cierto mérito, y sostienen asimismo la sociedad civil incluso con el fin de