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 *κρατεω*, 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.