Quiz: Politics

All 50 questions. A perfect score earns the gold medal; 80% earns silver.

1. 1. What does Aristotle say offices should be like in a small state?

   Walls that both defend and enclose Spits that also serve to hold a lamp Coins that pass in every market Ships that carry both cargo and soldiers
2. 2. Which is a device by which oligarchies keep the poor out of the courts?

   Paying the poor to attend Fining only the rich for failing to serve, so the poor need not attend Choosing judges by lot from all citizens Holding trials in the open market
3. 3. Why can a very populous state hardly have constitutional government?

   No herald could address it without the voice of a Stentor Its walls would be too long for the citizens to defend them It cannot produce enough food to feed all of its citizens Its citizens would all be traders
4. 4. At what ages does Aristotle say women and men should marry?

   Both at about twenty-one Women at twenty, men at twenty-five Women at sixteen, men at thirty Women about eighteen, men at thirty-seven
5. 5. What kind of constitution does Aristotle expect where the country suits cavalry?

   A tyranny An extreme democracy A polity of hoplites A strong oligarchy
6. 6. What is Hippodamus of Miletus said to have invented?

   The art of planning cities Ostracism The common meals for all citizens The secret ballot in the law-courts
7. 7. What are the three elements of every constitution in Book IV, chapter 14?

   The farmers, the artisans and the warriors of the city Law, custom and religion The king, the council of elders and the assembly of the people The deliberative, the magistracies and the judicial
8. 8. Which premise of Socrates in the Republic does Aristotle attack first?

   That the greater the unity of the state the better That justice is the interest of the stronger party in every city That the soul has three parts, matching the three classes of the city That philosophers should be kings, or kings become philosophers
9. 9. Why, according to Aristotle, do tyrants undertake works like the Pyramids?

   To store the public grain against years of famine To keep the people occupied and poor To provide tombs for the citizens who fell in war To honour the gods of the city with lasting monuments
10. 10. To whom does tradition ascribe the separation of warriors from husbandmen in Egypt?

    Minos Sesostris Psammetichus Italus
11. 11. In Aristotle’s worked example of a property-weighted vote, how many rich and poor citizens are there?

    Ten rich and twenty poor Five hundred rich and a thousand poor Twenty rich and ten poor One rich man and a hundred poor
12. 12. How did Thales show that philosophers could easily be rich?

    He sold his teaching in astronomy for very large fees He hired all the olive presses before a great harvest He bought up all the iron from the mines and resold it dearly He lent money at high interest to the farmers of Miletus
13. 13. According to Scylax, where are kings found with a marked superiority over their subjects?

    Among the Indians Among the Persians Among the Egyptians Among the Scythians
14. 14. In Aristotle’s scheme, what is the perversion of constitutional government (polity)?

    Tyranny Democracy Oligarchy Aristocracy
15. 15. How much of the Spartan land does Aristotle say was held by women?

    About a tenth More than half None, since women could not inherit Nearly two-fifths
16. 16. How does Aristotle characterise the Greeks compared with the peoples of cold Europe and of Asia?

    Intelligent but lacking spirit Neither spirited nor intelligent, but well-governed by law Both high-spirited and intelligent Spirited but lacking intelligence
17. 17. Which poet does Aristotle quote as praying to be “of a middle condition” in his city?

    Phocylides Homer Tyrtaeus Euripides
18. 18. Why should the flute not be admitted into education?

    It is too difficult to make It is too exciting and prevents the use of the voice It was invented by barbarians and used in their rites It cannot play the Dorian mode
19. 19. According to Aristotle, why were the earliest Greek governments after the kings drawn from the knights?

    Because military strength then lay in cavalry Because only knights could read the laws Because the oracle at Delphi required it Because the knights were the most numerous class
20. 20. Which city does Aristotle say is best governed among states in general?

    One composed largely of middle-class citizens One in which the poor rule by decree One ruled by the very rich One ruled by a hereditary king
21. 21. What two kinds of equality does Aristotle distinguish at the start of Book V?

    Numerical and proportional Divine and human Natural and legal Political and economic
22. 22. What does Aristotle say of someone unable to live in society, or so self-sufficient that he has no need of it?

    He is the best kind of citizen, since he needs no one He must be either a beast or a god He is fitted by nature to be a king over the rest He is a slave by nature and must be ruled by others
23. 23. How did Periander answer the herald sent by Thrasybulus?

    He burned a field of corn before the herald’s eyes He sent back an empty jar sealed with his own seal He drew a line in the sand He silently cut off the tallest ears of corn
24. 24. Besides ruling and being ruled in turn, what does Aristotle report as the second mark of democratic liberty?

    That magistrates should be elected rather than chosen by lot That a man should live as he likes That the laws should be written and published That every citizen should own an equal share of land
25. 25. What does Aristotle call the greatest preserver of constitutions?

    Frequent changes in the law to suit the times A large standing army of citizens and mercenaries Education adapted to the form of government The wealth of the public treasury and its reserves
26. 26. How was the Syracusan constitution once changed, according to Aristotle?

    By a dispute over a horse race By a foreign king’s bribe By a love-quarrel between two young men in the government By an earthquake that destroyed the assembly
27. 27. Which mode does Aristotle conclude youth should be taught?

    The Lydian alone The Dorian The Phrygian The Mixolydian
28. 28. In Aristotle’s version, what advice did Periander give Thrasybulus?

    To marry into the leading families To build temples to win the people’s favour To hire foreign mercenaries To cut off the tallest ears of corn, removing outstanding citizens
29. 29. In the last form of democracy, what overrides the law?

    The rulings of the council of elders The oracles of the priests The commands of the generals The decrees of the multitude, led by demagogues
30. 30. Which kind of money-making does Aristotle call the most hated and most unnatural?

    Service for hire Usury Retail trade Husbandry
31. 31. According to Book I, what is man by nature?

    A solitary animal A tool-making animal A political animal A trading animal
32. 32. How did the Four Hundred deceive the Athenian people?

    By claiming that Sparta had offered peace if the democracy ended By forging an oracle from Delphi that demanded a change of government By claiming the Persian king would fund the war against Sparta By hiding the defeat in Sicily
33. 33. What does Aristotle say happens to what is common to the greatest number?

    It is fought over most fiercely It receives the least care It is held sacred It is best preserved
34. 34. Under what condition, says Aristotle, would masters not want slaves?

    If money were no longer used in exchange between cities If all men were made equal by the laws of their city If wars between cities ceased If every tool could do its own work at command
35. 35. Who should ideally till the land of the best state?

    Slaves not all of the same race and not spirited Hired free labourers drawn from the neighbouring cities The priests on the sacred land The citizens themselves while they are still young
36. 36. Which population makes the best material for democracy, according to Book VI?

    An agricultural population Mechanics and traders living near the agora Sailors of a large fleet Labourers paid by the day
37. 37. According to Book IV, what really distinguishes democracy from oligarchy?

    Democracy uses election, oligarchy uses lot Democracy is rule of the free (and poor), oligarchy of the rich Democracy is rule by many, oligarchy by few Democracy has written laws, oligarchy has none
38. 38. Which example does Aristotle use to show that a possession has two uses?

    A ship A plough A shoe A bed
39. 39. Which example shows that users can judge some works better than their makers?

    The passenger judges a voyage better than the pilot The patient judges a cure better than the physician The soldier judges a battle better than the general The guest judges a feast better than the cook
40. 40. Which of these is not one of the four customary branches of education Aristotle lists?

    Drawing Reading and writing Rhetoric Gymnastic exercises
41. 41. What effect did the victory at Salamis have on Athens, according to Aristotle?

    It caused Athens to adopt an oligarchy of the wealthy who paid for the ships It restored the tyranny of Peisistratus’ sons, who had led the fleet It strengthened the democracy, as the common people had manned the fleet It strengthened the Areopagus
42. 42. What does Aristotle compare to water poured into a leaky cask?

    Electing all the magistrates by lot from the whole people Distributing the public surplus to the poor Paying the assembly to meet often in the year Fining the rich heavily in the popular law-courts
43. 43. What, in the end, distinguishes democracy from oligarchy?

    The use of the lot Whether there is a king The number of the rulers Poverty and wealth
44. 44. What was Phaleas of Chalcedon the first to propose?

    That laws should be divided into three classes That citizens should have equal possessions That all magistrates should be chosen by lot That wives and children should be common
45. 45. Why, in Book I, is man more of a political animal than bees?

    Only man builds walls around his dwellings Man needs a far greater variety of food than any other animal Only man has speech, to declare the just and the unjust Man lives in larger and more lasting groups than bees or ants
46. 46. Which tyranny does Aristotle say lasted longest?

    That of the Peisistratidae at Athens That of Orthagoras and his sons at Sicyon That of the Cypselidae at Corinth That of Gelo and Hiero at Syracuse
47. 47. What does the example of Olympic victors prove, in Aristotle’s view?

    The evil of excessive training in early years That athletes make the best soldiers and citizens That Sparta’s training was superior to all others That music strengthens the body as well as the mind
48. 48. Which cities does Aristotle say used ostracism against overly powerful individuals?

    Syracuse and Carthage Sparta and Corinth Thebes and Megara Athens and Argos
49. 49. What invention does Aristotle praise as suited to the restlessness of children?

    The flute of Athene The rattle of Archytas The tablet of Thrasippus The lyre of Orpheus
50. 50. What, according to Book III, is the special characteristic of a citizen in the strictest sense?

    Both his parents are citizens He lives within the city walls He shares in the administration of justice and in offices He owns land in the city