This essay is evidently only a fragment, as Wyttenbach long ago pointed out. The opening words indicate that the author delivers it as an address before an audience to which he has spoken on the day before, but nothing further is known about the circumstances. Few scholars now believe that the author is Plutarch, though who the writer was is not known. The substance of the fragment is derived chiefly from the Republic of Plato. Now as I was myself bringing before this company as a court of judgement the talk that I presented to you yesterday, I thought I heard, while wide awake, not in a dream, Political Wisdom saying: “Golden foundation is wrought for canticles sacred,” so the speech, which exhorts and encourages you to enter political life has been laid as a basis. “Come, let us now build walls,” building upon the exhortation the teaching which is due. And it is due to anyone who has received the exhortation and the impulse to engage in public affairs that he next hear and receive precepts of statecraft by the use of which he will, so far as is humanly possible, be of service to the people and at the same time manage his own affairs with safety and rightful honour. But as a step towards that which follows and a consequence of that which has been said, we must consider what is the best form of government. For just as there are numerous modes of life for a man, so the government (politeia) is the life of a people, and therefore it is essential for us to take the best form of it; for of all forms the statesman will choose the best or, if he cannot obtain that, then the one of all the rest which is most like it.
… Εἰς τοῦτο δὴ τὸ δικαστήριον καὶ αὐτὸς εἰσάγων τὴν γενομένην μοι πρὸς ὑμᾶς διάλεξιν ἐχθές, ᾤμην τῆς πολιτικῆς ἀρετῆς ὕπαρ οὐκ ὄναρ ἀκοῦσαι λεγούσηςκεκρότηται χρυσέα κρηπὶς ἱεραῖσιν ἀοιδαῖς,ὁ προτρεπόμενος καὶ διαίρων ἐπὶ πολιτείαν βέβληται λόγος· ἐκτίνωμεν ἢδη τὴν ὀφειλομένην ἐποικοδομοῦντες τῇ προτροπῇ διδασκαλίαν, ὀφείλεται δὲ τῷ παραδεδεγμένῳ τὴν ἐπὶ τὸ πράττειν τὰ κοινὰ προτροπὴν καὶ ὁρμὴν ἑξῆς ἀκοῦσαι καὶ λαβεῖν παραγγέλματα πολιτείας, οἷς χρώμενος, ὡς ἀνυστὸν ἐστιν ἀνθρώπῳ, δημωφελὴς ἔσται, μετʼ ἀσφαλείας ἅμα καὶ τιμῆς δικαίας εὖ τιθέμενος τὸ οἰκεῖον. ὃ δὲ προὔργου μέν ἐστιν εἰς τὰ μέλλοντα τοῖς δὲ προλελεγμένοις ἕπεται, σκεπτέον ἥτις ἀρίστη πολιτεία. καθάπερ γὰρ ἀνθρώπου βίοι πλείονες, ἔστι καὶ δήμου ἡ πολιτεία βίος· ὥστε λαβεῖν τὴν ἀρίστην ἀναγκαῖον· ἢ γὰρ ἐκ πασῶν αἱρήσεται ταύτην ὁ πολιτικὸς ἢ τῶν λοιπῶν τὴν ὁμοιοτάτην, εἰ ταύτην ἀδύνατον.
2. Now the word politeia (citizenship) is defined also as “having a share of the rights in a State,” as we say the Megarians voted Alexander the politeia (citizenship); and when he made fun of their eagerness, they told him that up to that time they had conferred citizenship upon Heracles only and now upon himself. Then Alexander was astonished and accepted the gift, thinking that its rarity gave it value. But the life of a statesman, a man who is occupied in public affairs, is also called politeia (statecraft); as, for example, we commend the politeia (statecraft) of Pericles and of Bias, but condemn that of Hyperbolus and Cleon. And some people even call a single brilliant act for the public benefit a politeia (politic act), such, for example, as a gift of money, the ending of a war, the introduction of a bill in parliament; and accordingly we say nowadays that so-and-so has performed a politeia if he happens to have put through some needed public measure.
2. λέγεται μὲν δὴ πολιτεία καὶ μετάληψις τῶν ἐν πόλει δικαίων· ὥς φαμεν Ἀλεξάνδρῳ πολιτείαν Μεγαρεῖς ψηφίσασθαι· τοῦ δʼ εἰς γέλωτα θεμένου τὴν σπουδὴν αὐτῶν, εἰπεῖν ἐκείνους ὅτι μόνῳ πρότερον τὴν πολιτείαν Ἡρακλεῖ καὶ μετʼ ἐκεῖνον αὐτῷ ψηφίσαιντο· τὸν δὲ θαυμάσαντα δέξασθαι τὸ τίμιον ἐν τῷ σπανίῳ τιθέμενον. λέγεται δὲ καὶ βίος ἀνδρὸς πολιτικοῦ καὶ τὰ κοινὰ πράττοντος πολιτεία· καθὸ τὴν Περικλέους πολιτείαν ἐπαινοῦμεν καὶ τὴν Βίαντος, ψέγομεν δὲ τὴν Ὑπερβόλου καὶ Κλέωνος. ἔνιοι δὲ καὶ μίαν πρᾶξιν εὔστοχον εἰς τὰ κοινὰ καὶ λαμπρὰν πολιτείαν προσαγορεύουσιν, οἷον χρημάτων ἐπίδοσιν, διάλυσιν πολέμου, ψηφίσματος εἰσήγησιν· καθὸ καὶ πολιτεύσασθαι τὸν δεῖνα σήμερον λέγομεν, εἰ τύχοι τι διαπραξάμενος ἐν κοινῷ τῶν δεόντων.
3. Besides all these, politeia is defined as an order and constitution of a State, which directs its affairs; and accordingly they say that there are three politeiae (forms of government), monarchy, oligarchy, and democracy, a comparison of which is given by Herodotus in his third book. They appear to be the most typical forms; for the others, as happens in musical scales when the strings of the primary notes are relaxed or tightened, turn out to be errors and corruptions through deficiency or excess. Of these forms of government, which have achieved the widest and greatest power in their periods of dominion, the Persians received as their lot royalty absolute and irresponsible, the Spartans oligarchy aristocratic and uncontrolled, the Athenians democracy self-governing and undiluted. When these forms are not hit exactly, their perversions and exaggerations are what are called (1) tyranny, (2) the predominance of great families, (3) or mob-rule: that is, (1) when royalty breeds violence and irresponsible action; (2) oligarchy, arrogance and presumptuousness; (3) democracy breeds anarchy, equality, excess, and all of them folly.
3. παρὰ πάντα ταῦτα λέγεται πολιτεία τάξις καὶ κατάστασις πόλεως διοικοῦσα τὰς πράξεις· καθά φασι τρεῖς εἶναι πολιτείας, μοναρχίαν καὶ ὀλιγαρχίαν καὶ δημοκρατίαν, ὧν καὶ Ἡρόδοτος ἐν τῇ τρίτῃ σύγκρισιν πεποίηται· καὶ δοκοῦσι γενικώταται εἶναι. τὰς γὰρ ἄλλας, ὥσπερ ἐν τοῖς μουσικοῖς διαγράμμασι τῶν πρώτων τρόπων ἀνιεμένων ἢ ἐπιτεινομένων, συμβέβηκε παρακρούσεις καὶ διαφθορὰς κατʼ ἔλλειψιν καὶ ὑπερβολὴν εἶναι. ταύτας καὶ πλεῖστον καὶ μέγιστον ἐν ἡγεμονίαις δυνηθείσας τῶν ἐθνῶν ἀπεκληρώσαντο τὰς πολιτείας, Πέρσαι μὲν αὐτοκρατῆ βασιλείαν καὶ ἀνυπεύθυνον, Σπαρτιᾶται δʼ, ἀριστοκρατικὴν ὀλιγαρχίαν καὶ αὐθέκαστον, Ἀθηναῖοι δʼ, αὐτόνομον καὶ ἄκρατον δημοκρατίαν. ὧν ἁμαρτανομένων παρατροπαὶ καὶ ὑπερχύσεις εἰσὶν αἱ λεγόμεναι τυραννίδες καὶ δυναστεῖαι καὶ ὀχλοκρατίαι· ὅταν βασιλεία μὲν ὕβριν ἐντέκῃ καὶ τὸ ἀνυπεύθυνον· ὀλιγαρχία δʼ ὑπερφροσύνην καὶ τὸ αὔθαδες· δημοκρατία δ’ ἀναρχίαν, ἰσότης δʼ ἀμετρίαν, πᾶσαι δὲ τὸ ἀνόητον.
4. So, just as a real musician will make use of every instrument harmoniously, adapting it skilfully and striking each one with regard to its natural tunefulness, and yet, following Plato’s advice, will give up guitars, banjoes, psalteries with their many sounds, harps and string triangles and prefer the lyre and the cithara; in the same way the real statesman will manage successfully the oligarchy that Lycurgus established at Sparta, adapting to himself the colleagues who have equal power and honour and quietly forcing them to do his will; he will also get on well in a democracy with its many sounds and strings by loosening the strings in some matters of government and tightening them in others, relaxing at the proper time and then again holding fast mightily, knowing how to resist the masses and to hold his ground against them. But if he were given the choice among governments, like so many tools, he would follow Plato’s advice and choose no other than monarchy, the only one which is able to sustain that top note of virtue, high in the highest sense, and never let it be tuned down under compulsion or expediency. For the other forms of government in a certain sense, although controlled by the statesman, control him, and although carried along by him, carry him along, since he has no firmly established strength to oppose those from whom his strength is derived, but is often compelled to exclaim in the words of Aeschylus which Demetrius the City-stormer employed against Fortune after he had lost his hegemony, “Thou fanst my flame, methinks thou burnst me up.”
4. Ὥσπερ οὖν ὁ ἁρμονικὸς καὶ μουσικὸς ἀνὴρ παντὶ μὲν ὀργάνῳ χρήσεται προσῳδῷ τεχνικῶς ἁρμοσάμενος καὶ λόγῳ κρούων ἕκαστον, ὡς πέφυκεν ἐμμελὲς ὑπηχεῖν ἤδη μέντοι συμβούλῳ Πλάτωνι χρησάμενος, πηκτίδας, σαμβύκας καὶ ψαλτήρια πολύφθογγα καὶ βαρβίτους καὶ τρίγωνα παραπέμψας, τὴν λύραν καὶ τὴν κιθάραν προτιμήσει· τὸν αὐτὸν τρόπον ὁ πολιτικὸς ἀνὴρ εὖ μὲν ὀλιγαρχίαν Λακωνικὴν καὶ Λυκούργειον μεταχειριεῖται, συναρμοσάμενος αὑτῷ τοὺς ἰσοκρατεῖς καὶ ὁμοτίμους ἄνδρας, ἡσυχῇ προσβιαζόμενος· εὖ δὲ πολυφθόγγῳ καὶ πολυχόρδῳ συνοίσεται δημοκρατίᾳ, τὰ μὲν ἀνιεὶς τὰ δʼ ἐπιτείνων τῆς πολιτείας, χαλάσας τʼ ἐν καιρῷ καὶ καρτερῶς αὖθις ἐμφύς,· ἀντιβῆναι καὶ ἀντισχεῖν ἐπιστάμενος· εἰ δʼ αἵρεσις αὐτῷ δοθείη, καθάπερ ὀργάνων τῶν πολιτειῶν, οὐκ ἂν ἄλλην ἕλοιτο πλὴν τὴν μοναρχίαν, Πλάτωνι πειθόμενος, τὴν μόνην δυναμένην τὸν ἐντελῆ καὶ ὄρθιον ἐκεῖνον ὡς ἀληθῶς τῆς ἀρετῆς τόνον ἀνασχέσθαι καὶ μήτε πρὸς ἀνάγκην μήτε πρὸς χάριν ἁρμόσαι τοῦ συμφέροντος αἱ μὲν γὰρ ἄλλαι πολιτεῖαι τρόπον τινὰ κρατούμεναι κρατοῦσι καὶ φερόμεναι φέρουσι τὸν πολιτικόν, οὐκ ἔχοντα τὴν ἰσχὺν βέβαιον ἐπὶ τούτους, παρʼ ὧν ἔχει; τὸ ἰσχῦον, ἀλλὰ πολλάκις ἀναγκαζόμενον τὸ Αἰσχύλειον ἀναφωνεῖν, ᾧ πρὸς τὴν τύχην ἐχρῆτο Δημήτριος ὁ πολιορκητὴς ἀποβαλὼν τὴν ἡγεμονίανσὺ τοί με φυσᾷς σύ με καταίθειν μοι δοκεῖς.…