name, of whom the people know little and cannot judge; or when the
despot, though fully in view and recognized, lacks will; or when (which
is rare) he is so inhuman as to miss the general sense of his subjects.
An oligarchic State, or aristocracy as it is called, will decline
principally through two agencies which are, first, illusion, and
secondly, lack of civic aptitude. For an oligarchic State tends very
readily to illusion, being conducted by men who live at leisure, satisfy
their passions, are immune from the laws, and prefer to shield
themselves from reality. Their capacity or appetite for illusion will
rapidly pervade those below them, for in an aristocracy the rulers are
subjected to a sort of worship from the rest of the community, and thus
it comes about that aristocracies in their decline accept fantastic
histories of their own past, conceive victory possible without armies,
wealth to be an indication of ability, and national security to be a
natural gift rather than a product of the will. Such communities further
fail from the lack of civic aptitude, as was said above, which means
that they deliberately elect to leave the mass of citizens incompetent
and irresponsible for generations, so that, when any more strain is upon
them, they look at once for some men other than themselves to relieve
them, and are incapable of corporate action upon their own account.

The decline of a State differs also according to whether it be a great
State or a small one, for in the first indifference, in the latter
faction, are a peril, and in the first ignorance, in the latter private
spite.

Then again, the decline of a State will differ according to whether its
strength is rooted originally in commerce, in arms, or in production;
and if in production, then whether in the production of the artisan or
in that of the peasant. If arms be the basis of the State, then that the