Key Arguments

• Names the four regimes following the best: the Spartan-Cretan type (timocracy), oligarchy, democracy, and tyranny; declares tyranny the fourth and worst
• Notes many other 'nondescripts' but denies they have distinct characters compared to the four principal forms
• Asserts that governments vary as men’s dispositions vary; states are made from human natures, not 'oak and rock'
• Concludes that if there are five constitutions (including the best), there will be five corresponding dispositions of individual minds

Source Quotes

I shall particularly wish to hear what were the four constitutions of which you were speaking. That question, I said, is easily answered: the four governments of which I spoke, so far as they have distinct names, are, first, those of Crete and Sparta, which are generally applauded; what is termed oligarchy comes next; this is not equally approved, and is a form of government which teems with evils: thirdly, democracy, which naturally follows oligarchy, although very different: and lastly comes tyranny, great and famous, which differs from them all, and is the fourth and worst disorder of a State. I do not know, do you? of any other constitution which can be said to have a distinct character.

I do not know, do you? of any other constitution which can be said to have a distinct character. There are lordships and principalities which are bought and sold, and some other intermediate forms of government. But these are nondescripts and may be found equally among Hellenes and among barbarians. Yes, he replied, we certainly hear of many curious forms of government which exist among them.

Yes, he replied, we certainly hear of many curious forms of government which exist among them. Do you know, I said, that governments vary as the dispositions of men vary, and that there must be as many of the one as there are of the other? For we cannot suppose that States are made of 'oak and rock,' and not out of the human natures which are in them, and which in a figure turn the scale and draw other things after them?

Do you know, I said, that governments vary as the dispositions of men vary, and that there must be as many of the one as there are of the other? For we cannot suppose that States are made of 'oak and rock,' and not out of the human natures which are in them, and which in a figure turn the scale and draw other things after them? Yes, he said, the States are as the men are; they grow out of human characters.

Yes, he said, the States are as the men are; they grow out of human characters. Then if the constitutions of States are five, the dispositions of individual minds will also be five? Certainly.

Key Concepts

• first, those of Crete and Sparta, which are generally applauded; what is termed oligarchy comes next; this is not equally approved, and is a form of government which teems with evils: thirdly, democracy, which naturally follows oligarchy, although very different: and lastly comes tyranny, great and famous, which differs from them all, and is the fourth and worst disorder of a State.
• There are lordships and principalities which are bought and sold, and some other intermediate forms of government. But these are nondescripts and may be found equally among Hellenes and among barbarians.
• governments vary as the dispositions of men vary, and that there must be as many of the one as there are of the other?
• For we cannot suppose that States are made of 'oak and rock,' and not out of the human natures which are in them
• Then if the constitutions of States are five, the dispositions of individual minds will also be five?

Context

Socrates resumes the earlier plan by classifying regimes and asserting the city–soul correspondence to set up comparative analysis.

Perspectives

Plato

Endorses a typology anchored in psychology: political forms are outgrowths of character types; tyranny is the nadir due to psychic disintegration.

Socrates

Uses the mirroring of city and soul to provide a methodological bridge for evaluating justice and happiness across regimes and individuals.