Isabel Ruffell<p>I see a lot of talk about <a href="https://mastodon.scot/tags/oligarchy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>oligarchy</span></a> (as, recently, Monbiot), and am reminded yet again of Herodotus' so-called "Debate on the Constitutions", whereby in a three-way shootout between monarchy, oligarchy and democracy, it will come down to a fight between <a href="https://mastodon.scot/tags/monarchy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>monarchy</span></a> and <a href="https://mastodon.scot/tags/democracy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>democracy</span></a>. In this account, oligarchy will always reduce to monarchy (=tyranny).</p><p><a href="https://mastodon.scot/tags/Greece" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Greece</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.scot/tags/Persia" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Persia</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.scot/tags/Classics" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Classics</span></a></p>