The chapter opens by looking at the various protagonists of the economic system—entrepreneurs and savers, speculators and rentiers—who are driven by the instincts and sentiments associated with one of the two main classes of residues. Each of these figures plays a crucial role in maintaining the equilibrium of the economic system. The chapter then shifts to the ‘more political’ part of Pareto’s work, focusing specifically on his theory of the elite. This theory forms part of a broader reflection that Pareto develops on democracy, a form of government characterised, in his view, by the domination of a minority over the majority. Such minorities can rule through force, thus portrayed as lion elites, or through cunning, as fox elites. The use of such metaphorical images is certainly not new; they trace back to the Homeric poems, Cicero, Machiavelli, and, more generally, the tradition of political realism to which Pareto belonged. With Machiavelli, Pareto shares the view that the ruling elite should ideally employ both force and cunning. He also highlights the necessity for a continuous circulation between members of the elites and non-elites for the maintenance of social and political equilibrium.