(48) τρισὶ δὲ ταύταις, ὥσπερ εἴρηται, πολιτείαις τρεῖς ἐναντίαι {καὶ} παράνομοι 
διαφθοραί, ἡ μὲν πρώτη {τε καὶ ἀρίστη καὶ μόνη  δυνατή}, τυραννίς, ἑνὸς ὕβρει 
καὶ βίᾳ τοῦ κακίστου τῶν ἄλλων ἀπολλυμένων· ἡ δὲ μετ´ ἐκείνην ὀλιγαρχία, 
σκληρὰ καὶ ἄδικος πλεονεξία πλουσίων τινῶν καὶ πονηρῶν ὀλίγων ἐπὶ τοὺς 
πολλοὺς καὶ ἀπόρους συστᾶσα· 
(49) ἡ δὲ ἑξῆς ποικίλη καὶ παντοδαπὴ φορὰ πλήθους οὐδὲν εἰδότος ἁπλῶς, 
ταραττομένου δὲ ἀεὶ καὶ ἀγριαίνοντος ὑπὸ ἀκολάστων δημαγωγῶν, ὥσπερ 
κλύδωνος ἀγρίου καὶ χαλεποῦ ὑπὸ ἀνέμων σκληρῶν μεταβαλλομένου.

(48) To these forms of government—three in number, as I have said—are opposed 
three degenerate forms not based on law : The first is " tyranny," where one 
man's high-handed use of force is the ruin of the others. Next comes oligarchy, harsh 
and unjust, arising from the aggrandizement of a certain few wealthy rascals at the 
expense of the needy masses. 
The next in order is a motley impulsive mob of all sorts and conditions of men who 
know absolutely nothing but are always kept in a state of confusion and anger by 
unscrupulous demagogues, just as a wild rough sea is whipped this way and that by 
the fierce blasts.

Trad. anglaise : J.W. COHOON - H. Lamar CROSBY, Dio Chrysostom.  
Vol. I. London, Heinemann, 1932