of that island. Seditions also which
arise from different causes will differ from each other; for sometimes
a revolution is brought about by the rich who have no share in the
administration, which is in the hands of a very few indeed: and this
happened at Massilia, Ister, Heraclea, and other cities; for those who
had no share in the government ceased not to raise disputes till they
were admitted to it: first the elder brothers, and then the younger
also: for in some places the father and son are never in office at the
same time; in others the elder and younger brother: and where this is
observed the oligarchy partakes something of a free state. At Ister it
was changed into a democracy; in Heraclea, instead of being in the
hands of a few, it consisted of six hundred. At Cnidus the oligarchy
was destroyed by the nobles quarrelling with each other, because the
government was in the hands of so few: for there, as we have just
mentioned, if the father was in office, the son could not; or, if there
were many brothers, the eldest only; for the people, taking advantage of
their disputes, elected one of the nobles for their general, and got the
victory: for where there are seditions government is weak. And formerly
at Erithria, during the oligarchy of the Basilides, although the state
flourished greatly under their excellent management, yet because the
people were displeased that the power should be in the hands of so
few, they changed the government. Oligarchies also are subject to
revolutions, from those who are in office therein, from the quarrels of
the demagogues with each other. The demagogues are of two sorts; one
who flatter the few when they are in power: for even these have their
demagogues; such was Charicles at Athens, who had great influence over
the thirty; and, in the same manner, Phrynichus over the four hundred.
The others are those demagogues who have a share in the oligarchy,
and flatter the people: such were the state-guardians at Larissa, who
flattered the people because they were elected by them. And this will
always happen in every oligarchy where the magistrates do not elect
themselves, but are chosen out of men either of great fortune or certain
ranks, by the soldiers or by the people; as was the custom at Abydos.
And when the judicial department is not in the hands of the supreme
power, the demagogues, favouring the people in their causes, overturn
the government; which happened at Heraclea in Pontus: an