Plato's argument of government decline (Republic): societies pass through a predictable cycle of government forms, each degenerating into the next: #aristocracy (rule by the wise), #timocracy (rule by honorable), #democracy (rule by the people), #oligarchy (rule by the rich), and #tyranny (rule by dictator). Plato specifically claimed that democracy's emphasis on freedom & equality leads to disorder, making it ripe for a tyrant to seize power under the guise of restoring order.