上句见：Day86
The Story of Philosophy的第87句：第1章Plato第1节The Context of Plato第7段第4句：

No doubt this attack on democracy reflected the rise of a wealthy minority at Athens which called itself the Oligarchical Party, and denounced democracy as an incompetent sham. In a sense there was not much democracy to denounce; for of the 400,000 inhabitants of Athens 250,000 were slaves, without political rights of any kind: and of the 150,000 freemen or citizens only a small number presented themselves at the Ecclesia, or general assembly, where the policies of the state were discussed and determined. Yet what democracy they had was thorough as never since the general assembly was the supreme power; and the highest official body, the Dikasteria, or supreme court, consisted of over a thousand members (to make bribery expensive), selected by alphabetical rote from the roll of all the citizens. No institution could have been more democratic, nor, said its opponents, more absurd.
浙江大学版本：任何一个机构都不可能比它更为民主，或套用反对派的话，没有比它更为荒谬的了。

解析

这句是对整段的总结：雅典民主在不同的眼中有不同立场。支持者觉得没找到更民主的，反对者觉得没找到更荒谬的。
1、No institution could have been more democratic,
支持派：最民主

2、nor, said its opponents, more absurd.
反对派：最荒谬

没有任何一个机构比它更民主，或者，用它对手的话来说，没有更荒谬的。

整段分析

整段主要辩证讨论了雅典的民主制。

古雅典的民主制

毫无疑问，对民主的这次攻击反映了雅典新兴崛起的自称寡头政党的富裕少数派，他们谴责民主是种无能骗局。在某种意义上说，没什么民主可指责。因为在40万人口有25万奴隶，他们没有一点政治权力。而其余的15万自由人或城民中，只有少数人参与公民大会，在那里讨论并制定城邦的政策。但是他们所拥有的民主是彻底的，后面从没全体大会拥有至高无上的权力；还有最高行政主体陪审团或最高法院，成员超过1千，这样使贿赂变得高昂，并且是根据所有城民的注册名单按字母顺序选取出来的。没有一个机构比它更民主，或者说，按他对手来说，没有一个机构比它更荒谬。