a form of government where the supreme power is vested in the principal persons of the state. The word is derived from αριστος, optimus, and κρατος, impero, "I govern." The ancient writers of politics prefer the aristocratical form of government to all others. The republic of Venice is an aristocracy. Aristocracy seems to coincide with oligarchy; which, however, is more ordinarily used to signify a corruption of an aristocratical state, where the administration is in the hands of too few, or where some one or two usurp the whole power.