Rhetoric   

with actual pleasure; for here there is more than one advantage; and
so here we have the good of feeling pleasure and also the good of not
feeling pain. And of two good things that is the better whose addition
to a third thing makes a better whole than the addition of the other
to the same thing will make. Again, those things which we are seen to
possess are better than those which we are not seen to possess, since
the former have the air of reality. Hence wealth may be regarded as a
greater good if its existence is known to others. That which is dearly
prized is better than what is not-the sort of thing that some people
have only one of, though others have more like it. Accordingly,
blinding a one-eyed man inflicts worse injury than half-blinding a man
with two eyes; for the one-eyed man has been robbed of what he dearly
prized.
The grounds on which we must base our arguments, when we are speaking
for or against a proposal, have now been set forth more or less
completely.
Part 8
The most important and effective qualification for success in
persuading audiences and speaking well on public affairs is to
understand all the forms of government and to discriminate their
respective customs, institutions, and interests. For all men are
persuaded by considerations of their interest, and their interest lies
in the maintenance of the established order. Further, it rests with
the supreme authority to give authoritative decisions, and this varies
with each form of government; there are as many different supreme
authorities as there are different forms of government. The forms of
government are four-democracy, oligarchy, aristocracy, monarchy. The
supreme right to judge and decide always rests, therefore, with either
a part or the whole of one or other of these governing powers.
A Democracy is a form of government under which the citizens
distribute the offices of state among themselves by lot, whereas under
oligarchy there is a property qualification, under aristocracy one of
education. By education I mean that education which is laid down by
the law; for it is those who have been loyal to the national
institutions that hold office under an aristocracy. These are bound to
be looked upon as 'the best men', and it is from this fact that this
form of government has derived its name ('the rule of the best').
Monarchy, as the word implies, is the constitution a in which one man
has authority over all. There are two forms of monarchy: kingship,
which is limited by prescribed conditions, and 'tyranny', which is not
limited by anything.
We must also notice the ends which the various forms of government
pursue, since people choose in practice such actions as will lead to
the realization of their ends. The end of democracy is freedom; of
oligarchy, wealth; of aristocracy, the maintenance of education and
national institutions; of tyranny, the protection of the tyrant. It is
clear, then, that we must distinguish those particular customs,
institutions, and interests which tend to realize the ideal of each
constitution, since men choose their means with reference to their
ends. But rhetorical persuasion is effected not only by demonstrative
but by ethical argument; it helps a speaker to convince us, if we
believe that he has certain qualities himself, namely, goodness, or
goodwill towards us, or both together. Similarly, we should know the
moral qualities characteristic of each form of government, for the
special moral character of each is bound to provide us with our most
effective means of persuasion in dealing with it. We shall learn the
qualities of governments in the same way as we learn the qualities of
individuals, since they are revealed in their deliberate acts of
choice; and these are determined by the end that inspires them.
We have now considered the objects, immediate or distant, at which we
are to aim when urging any proposal, and the grounds on which we are
to base our arguments in favour of its utility. We have also briefly
considered the means and methods by which we shall gain a good
knowledge of the moral qualities and institutions peculiar to the