Cleisthenes may have invented democracy in Athens in 508 BC but not all Athenians were in favour of it. Here Plato in his Republic (c 375 BC) describes what happens when democracy gets out of hand: ...

He notes the paradoxes the Greeks recognised from the start, such as that, as Cleisthenes Only a selection of our reviews and articles are free. Subscribers receive the monthly magazine and access to ...