Debate about Different Forms of Government:
Herodotus III.80-82
Background Information for the document: Greek historian Herodotus tells the story of a group of men who are meeting
to debate what the best form of Government is. They are setting up a new government in an ancient city-state after a
Tyrant named Cambyses was overthrown. Three of the men stand up to make their case for why they should choose
each type of government. The three types of government represented are democracy, oligarchy, and monarchy. To
make the document easier to understand, it has been shortened and simplified.
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Otanes speaks for democracy:
o “To me, it seems like we should not continue to let one man rule over us. When one person rules, it is
neither good nor pleasant. You cannot have forgotten how cruel Cambyses and his followers could be
to the people. Is it even possible for a monarchy to be a good thing? It allows the king to do whatever
he wants. He doesn’t have to answer to anybody. If you give a good man that much power, I believe it
will turn him into a bad man. Anyone with unlimited power will become proud. Kings become jealous
of the good men they rule over, and they punish anyone that threatens their power without giving them
a trial. Kings always end up believing that they are above the law. The rule of the people is a better
idea. The rulers are always accountable to the people for what they do. For this reason, I say we should
do away with monarchy and create a democracy.”

Megabyzus speaks for oligarchy:
o “Otanes says we should put down monarchy. I agree! He says we should put the people in charge, but I
think that is a bad idea. There is nothing else that is more ignorant or full of jealousy as the uneducated
masses of ‘the people.’ It makes no sense for people to get rid of the cruelty of a tyrant king and
exchange it for the cruelty of the mob. The king at least knows what he is doing, but the mob is clueless.
They have never been trained how to do things right and they will confuse everything. Let other people
be ruled by the mob, but let us be smarter than that. Let us chose a certain number of the best and
smartest among us to be our leaders. When the best men are given control, good things will happen for
the city.”

Darius speaks for monarchy:
o “Otanes and Megabyzus have made good cases for democracy and oligarchy, but I think they are wrong
about monarchy. Think about each of these three forms of government. When they are working at
their best, what could possibly be better than a state being run by the very best man in the state? In an
oligarchy or a democracy, people are constantly competing with one another for power. They all want
to be the leader, and their fighting causes disorder and bloodshed. This will always make the state
weaker. If the people aren’t fighting each other in a democracy, they are always trying to buy the
support of people. They use the state’s money to pay friends and make sure that they stay in power.
This kind of corruption happens with every type of leader except a king. My final thought is this: which
form of government makes us the safest? A democracy of an oligarchy takes too long to make decisions
in a crisis. We have our freedom and our safety because of the efficiency of a king. Why should we
change this?
Individual reflection: In a paragraph answer this question:

Based on the three cases presented here, which form of government would you choose and why?