aristocratia

ARISTOCRAT´IA(ἀριστοκρατία), a term in common use among Greek writers on politics, though rarely employed by historians, or otherwise than in connexion with political theories. It signifies literally the government of the best men; and as used by Plato, Aristotle, Polybius, &c., it meant (in reference to a state where political power was not shared by the bulk of the community, but was in the hands of a privileged class, existing along with a class personally free and possessed of civil rights, but excluded from the exercise of the highest political functions) the government of a class whose supremacy was founded not on wealth merely, but on personal distinction (ὅπου μὴ μόνον πλουτίνδην ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀριστίνδην αἱροῦνται τὰς ἀρχάς, Aristot. Pol. 4.5, p. 127, ed. Göttl. η ἀριστοκρατία βούλεται τὴν ὑπεροχὴν ἀπονέμειν τοῖς ἀρίστοις τῶν πολιτῶν, ibid. p. 128). That there should be an aristocracy, moreover, it was essential that the administration of affairs should be conducted with a view to the promotion of the general interests, not for the exclusive or predominant advantage of the privileged class (Aristot. Pol. 3.5, p. 83, ed. Göttl. ; Plat. Polit. p. 301 A). As soon as the government ceased to be thus conducted, or whenever the only title to political power in the dominant class was the possession of superior wealth, the constitution was termed an oligarchy (ὀλιγαρχία), which, in the technical use of the term, was always looked upon as a corruption (παρέκβασις, Aristot. Pol. 3.5, p. 84, ed. Göttl.) of an aristocracy. (Comp. Plat. l. c.; Aristot. Pol. 4.3, pp. 117, 118, ed. Göttl. 4.6, ἀριστοκρατίας γὰρ ὅρος ἀρετὴ, ὀλιγαρχίας δὲ πλοῦτος.) In the practical application of the term aristocracy, however, the personal excellence which was held to be a necessary element was not of a higher kind than what, according to the deeply-seated ideas of the Greeks, was commonly hereditary in families of noble birth (Plat. Menex. p. 237 A, Cratyl. p. 394 A; Aristot. Pol. 4.6, ἡ γὰρ εὐγένειά ἐστιν ἀρχαῖος πλοῦτος καὶ ἀρετή. 5.1, εὐγενεῖς γὰρ εῖναι δοκοῦσιν οῖς ὑπρχει προγόνων ἀρετὴ καὶ πλοῦτος), and in early times would be the ordinary accompaniments of noble rank,--namely, wealth, military skill, and superior education and intelligence (comp. Aristot. Pol. 4.6, εἰώθασι καλεῖν . . . . ἀριστοκρατίας διὰ τὸ μᾶλλον ἀκολουθεῖν παιδείαν καὶ εὐγένειαν τοῖς εὐπορωτέροις). It is to be noted that the word ἀριστοκρατία is never, like the English term aristocracy, the name of a class, but only of a particular political constitution.

In tracing the historical development of aristocratical government, we meet with a condition of things which may almost be called by that name in the state of society depicted in the Homeric poems, where we already see the power of the kings limited by that of a body of princes or nobles, such as would naturally arise in the infancy of society, especially among tribes in which, from the frequency of wars, martial skill would be a sure and speedy method of acquiring superiority. When the kingly families died out, or were stripped of their peculiar privileges, the supreme power naturally passed into the hands of these princes or chieftains, who formed a body of nobles, whose descendants would of course for the most part inherit those natural and be also alone in a position to secure those acquired advantages, especially warlike skill, which would form their title to political superiority. Some aristocracies thus arose from the natural progress of society: others arose from conquest. The changes consequent on the rise of the Hellenes, and the Thessalian, Boeotian and Dorian conquests in Greece, established pretty generally a state of things in which we find the political power in the hands of a body of nobles consisting chiefly or entirely of the conquerors, beneath whom is a free population not possessed of political rights, consisting of the older inhabitants of the land, together with, in most instances, a body of serfs attached to the domains of the nobles. These last are described under various names, as Εὐπατρίδαι in Attica, or Γαμόροι, as in Syracuse and several of the Doric states. From the superior efficiency of the cavalry in early times, we also find the nobles as a class bearing the name Ἱππόται, Ἱππεῖς, or Ἱπποβόται (as in Chalcis, Hdt. 5.77), since, generally speaking, they alone had wealth sufficient to enable them to equip themselves for that kind of service; and in most states the first great advance of the commonalty in power arose from their gaining greater efficiency as heavy-armed foot-soldiers; that force, when properly organized and armed, being found more than a match for cavalry. (See especially Arist. Pol. 4.3, 10; K. F. Hermann, Griech. Staatsalterth. c. 3. § § 55-59; Wachsmuth, Hellen. Alterthumsk. vol. 1.100.3, § § 30, 31 ; Thirlwall, Hist. of Greece, vol. 1.100.10, p. 394, &c.) Comp. EUPATRIDAE, GEOMORI, PATRICII.

(ἀριστοκρατία). Literally, “the government of the best.” As used by Plato, Aristotle, Polybius, and others, it meant government by a class whose supremacy was founded less on wealth than on personal distinction; whereas government by the wealthy was ὀλιγαρχία. See Arist. Pol. iv. 3, 10; Plato Pol. p. 301 A; and the articles Eupatridae; geomori; patricii.