|
The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from Polity of Athenians and Lacedaemonians by Xenophon: fleet,[4] and put round the city her girdle of power. The
steersman,[5] the boatswain, the lieutenant,[6] the look-out-man at
the prow, the shipright--these are the people who engird the city with
power far rather than her heavy infantry[7] and men of birth of
quality. This being the case, it seems only just that offices of state
should be thrown open to every one both in the ballot[8] and the show
of hands, and that the right of speech should belong to any one who
likes, without restriction. For, observe,[9] there are many of these
offices which, according as they are in good or in bad hands, are a
source of safety or of danger to the People, and in these the People
prudently abstains from sharing; as, for instance, it does not think
|
