A rule which applies
both to democracies and oligarchies – indeed it applies to all constitutions –
is that no person should be advanced by the state out of proportion to
others. It is a better policy to award
small honours over a period of time than to give great honours rapidly. (Men are easily spoiled; and it is not all
who can stand prosperity.) If this rule
is not followed, and honours are bestowed on a man promiscuously, the least
that can be done is not to revoke them promiscuously, but to do so by
degrees. It is also good policy to aim
at providing, by means appropriate, legislation against the risk of any man gaining a
position of superiority by the strength of his wealth or connexions. Failing that, men who get such a position
should be removed from it by being sent out of the country.[1]
Aristotle,
Politics (335-323 BC).
[1] Aristotle,
The Politics of Aristotle, tr. Ernest
Barker (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1980), p. 227.
