“Well,” said I, “to see what we want to see with greater precision, let us proceed in the following way.”
“In what way?”
“Let us use the argument to divide the democratically governed city into three, which is how matters actually stand. One part is presumably this drone-like class that develops there, no less than it does in an oligarchy, because there is so much licence.”
“So it does.”
“But this class is much fiercer in a democracy than in an oligarchy.”
“How so?”
“In the oligarchy it gets no exercise and doesn’t get strong, because it is not respected, and it is excluded from positions of authority. But in the democracy, with few exceptions, this is presumably the dominant class, and the fiercest part of it is vocal and active, while the rest gather about the speaker’s platform, sit there buzzing, and will not stand for any opposition. Consequently, with few exceptions, everything in such a form of government is managed by this class.”
“Very much so,” said he.
Republic VIII, 564c-e (translation: David Horan)