  Spinoza had barely begun writing the first of what would likely have been two chapters on democracy when he died on February 21, 1677. His conception of democracy includes any system of popular governance in which the governing members acquire the right to participate by virtue of their civil status rather than by election. This conception of democracy is broad enough to include even variants of timocracy. Spinoza’s own model democracy excludes all those who are not sui iuris—e.g., women, servants (servos), and foreigners—as well those who do not lead “respectable lives” (honesteque vivunt) (11/3). These elitist and exclusionary aspects of Spinoza’s democracy taint what would otherwise appear to be a rather progressive form of democracy, from as much as we can glean from remarks scattered throughout the text.