The most widely known study of a political leader or
boss is Machiavelli Prince, which has stood for four hun-
dred years as the classic type of a critical analysis of polit-
ical character and methods. The work of the observing
Florentine was anticipated, however, by the remarkable
analyses made by Aristotle in his Politics, nearly 2000 years
in advance of the Italian; and Aristotle was in turn antici-
pated by his great teacher, Plato, in his attempt to make
a psychological pattern of the despot and the just man in
the political world. By mathematical calculations, the basis
of which I confess I am unable to follow, the great Greek
philosopher reached the conclusion that the despot was
precisely 729 times less happy than the just ruler, this figure
being the cube of nine. We cannot say that the study of
leaders was not begun early by the students of government,
or deny that it was well begun by these illustrious inquirers.

In the meantime, however, new types of leaders have
appeared, and new forms of analysis and appraisal. Mod-
ern democracy has produced novel situations under which
leaders may develop, and modern political science and
psychology are developing new modes of more critical and
accurate analysis of the traits of the leaders and the habits
of those who are led. In every part of the field of social
science, there is beginning a wide movement towaml the
more intimate understanding of those qualities of human
nature that underlie social and political control. The eco-
nomic man, the social man, the political man cannot con-
tinue to be the product of arm-chair speculation or a type

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