[131] For they established government by the people, not the kind which operates at haphazard, mistaking licence for liberty and freedom to do what one likes for happiness,
1
but the kind which frowns upon such excesses and makes use of the rule of the best. Now the majority count the rule of the best,
2
which is the most advantageous of governments (just as they do government based upon a property qualification
3
), among the distinct kinds of polity, being mistaken, not because of ignorance, but because they have never taken any interest in the things which should claim their attention.
Panathenaicus. Isocrates. George Norlin (Translator). Cambridge, MA. 1928.
Sponsored by Perseus Project, Tufts University.
Funding provided by The Annenberg CPB/Project.