Venetian oligarchy

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Often appears with: roman senate · lifetime public office · counsel and advisers to rulers · assemblies, councils, and senates · aristocracy of public functionaries

Usually: argument (1) · wonder (1)

Considerations on Representative Government secondary

John Stuart Mill · 1840s–1861 (composition and revision; see publication date omitted)
Chapter I--To What Extent Forms of Government are a Matter of Choice. > Chapter VI--Of the Infirmities and Dangers to which Representative Government is Liable. (3/12)

Mill claims the historical governments noted for sustained ability were aristocracies of office-holders, especially Rome and Venice, where governance was trained, lifelong, and tied to public responsibilities.

little more than select the chiefs. I am speaking of the regular course of their administration; for the will of the master of course determines many of their particular acts. The governments which have been remarkable in history for sustained mental ability and vigor in the conduct of affairs have generally been aristocracies. But they have been, without any exception, aristocracies of public functionaries. The rul…