BOOK II.

I. [When, therefore, he observed all his friends kindled with the

de]sire of hearing him, Scipio thus opened the discussion. I will

commence, said Scipio, with a sentiment of old Cato, whom, as you know,

I singularly loved and exceedingly admired, and to whom, in compliance

with the judgment of both my parents, and also by my own desire, I was

entirely devoted during my youth; of whose discourse, indeed, I could

never have enough, so much experience did he possess as a statesman

respecting the republic which he had so long governed, both in peace

and war, with so much success. There was also an admirable propriety in

his style of conversation, in which wit was tempered with gravity; a

wonderful aptitude for acquiring, and at the same time communicating,

information; and his life was in perfect correspondence and unison with

his language. He used to say that the government of Rome was superior

to that of other states for this reason, because in nearly all of them

there had been single individuals, each of whom had regulated their

commonwealth according to their own laws and their own ordinances. So

Minos had done in Crete, and Lycurgus in Sparta; and in Athens, which

experienced so many revolutions, first Theseus, then Draco, then Solon,

then Clisthenes, afterward many others; and, lastly, when it was almost

lifeless and quite prostrate, that great and wise man, Demetrius

Phalereus, supported it. But our Roman constitution, on the contrary,

did not spring from the genius of one individual, but from that of

many; and it was established, not in the lifetime of one man, but in

the course of several ages and centuries. For, added he, there never

yet existed any genius so vast and comprehensive as to allow nothing at

any time to escape its attention; and all the geniuses in the world

united in a single mind could never, within the limits of a single

life, exert a foresight sufficiently extensive to embrace and harmonize

all, without the aid of experience and practice.

Thus, according to Cato's usual habit, I now ascend in my discourse to

the "origin of the people," for I like to adopt the expression of Cato.

I shall also more easily execute my proposed task if I thus exhibit to

you our political constitution in its infancy, progress, and maturity,

now so firm and fully established, than if, after the example of

Socrates in the books of Plato, I were to delineate a mere imaginary

republic.

II. When all had signified their approbation, Scipio resumed: What

commencement of a political constitution can we conceive more

brilliant, or more universally known, than the foundation of Rome by

the hand of Romulus? And he was the son of Mars: for we may grant this

much to the common report existing among men, especially as it is not

merely ancient, but one also which has been wisely maintained by our

ancestors, in order that those who have done great service to

communities may enjoy the reputation of having received from the Gods,

not only their genius, but their very birth.

It is related, then, that soon after the birth of Romulus and his

brother Remus, Amulius, King of Alba, fearing that they might one day

undermine his authority, ordered that they should be exposed on the

banks of the Tiber; and that in this situation the infant Romulus was

suckled by a wild beast; that he was afterward educated by the

shepherds, and brought up in the rough way of living and labors of the

countrymen; and that he acquired, when he grew up, such superiority

over the rest by the vigor of his body and the courage of his soul,

that all the people who at that time inhabited the plains in the midst

of which Rome now stands, tranquilly and willingly submitted to his

government. And when he had made himself the chief of those bands, to

come from fables to facts, he took Alba Longa, a powerful and strong

city at that time, and slew its king, Amulius.

III. Having acquired this glory, he conceived the design (as they tell

us) of founding a new city and establishing a new state. As respected

the site of his new city, a point which requires the greatest foresight

in him who would lay the foundation of a durable commonwealth, he chose

the most convenient possible position. For he did not advance too near

the sea, which he might easily have done with the forces under his

command, either by entering the territory of the Rutuli and Aborigines,

or by founding his citadel at the mouth of the Tiber, where many years

after Ancus Martius established a colony. But Romulus, with admirable

genius and foresight, observed and perceived that sites very near the

sea are not the most favorable positions for cities which would attain

a durable prosperity and dominion. And this, first, because maritime

cities are always exposed, not only to many attacks, but to perils they

cannot provide against. For the continued land gives notice, by many

indications, not only of any regular approaches, but also of any sudden

surprises of an enemy, and announces them beforehand by the mere sound.

There is no adversary who, on an inland territory, can arrive so

swiftly as to prevent our knowing not only his existence, but his

character too, and where he comes from. But a maritime and naval enemy

can fall upon a town on the sea-coast before any one suspects that he

is about to come; and when he does come, nothing exterior indicates who

he is, or whence he comes, or what he wishes; nor can it even be

determined and distinguished on all occasions whether he is a friend or

a foe.

IV. But maritime cities are likewise naturally exposed to corrupt

influences, and revolutions of manners. Their civilization is more or

less adulterated by new languages and customs, and they import not only

foreign merchandise, but foreign fashions, to such a degree that

nothing can continue unalloyed in the national institutions. Those who

inhabit these maritime towns do not remain in their native place, but

are urged afar from their homes by winged hope and speculation. And

even when they do not desert their country in person, still their minds

are always expatiating and voyaging round the world.

Nor, indeed, was there any cause which more deeply undermined Corinth

and Carthage, and at last overthrew them both, than this wandering and

dispersion of their citizens, whom the passion of commerce and

navigation had induced to abandon the cultivation of their lands and

their attention to military pursuits.

The proximity of the sea likewise administers to maritime cities a

multitude of pernicious incentives to luxury, which are either acquired

by victory or imported by commerce; and the very agreeableness of their

position nourishes many expensive and deceitful gratifications of the

passions. And what I have spoken of Corinth may be applied, for aught I

know, without incorrectness to the whole of Greece. For the

Peloponnesus itself is almost wholly on the sea-coast; nor, besides the

Phliasians, are there any whose lands do not touch the sea; and beyond

the Peloponnesus, the Ænianes, the Dorians, and the Dolopes are the

only inland people. Why should I speak of the Grecian islands, which,

girded by the waves, seem all afloat, as it were, together with the

institutions and manners of their cities? And these things, I have

before noticed, do not respect ancient Greece only; for which of all

those colonies which have been led from Greece into Asia, Thracia,

Italy, Sicily, and Africa, with the single exception of Magnesia, is

there that is not washed by the sea? Thus it seems as if a sort of

Grecian coast had been annexed to territories of the barbarians. For

among the barbarians themselves none were heretofore a maritime people,

if we except the Carthaginians and Etruscans; one for the sake of

commerce, the other of pillage. And this is one evident reason of the

calamities and revolutions of Greece, because she became infected with

the vices which belong to maritime cities, which I just now briefly

enumerated. But yet, notwithstanding these vices, they have one great

advantage, and one which is of universal application, namely, that

there is a great facility for new inhabitants flocking to them. And,

again, that the inhabitants are enabled to export and send abroad the

produce of their native lands to any nation they please, which offers

them a market for their goods.

V. By what divine wisdom, then, could Romulus embrace all the benefits

that could belong to maritime cities, and at the same time avoid the

dangers to which they are exposed, except, as he did, by building his

city on the bank of an inexhaustible river, whose equal current

discharges itself into the sea by a vast mouth, so that the city could

receive all it wanted from the sea, and discharge its superabundant

commodities by the same channel? And in the same river a communication

is found by which it not only receives from the sea all the productions

necessary to the conveniences and elegances of life, but those also

which are brought from the inland districts. So that Romulus seems to

me to have divined and anticipated that this city would one day become

the centre and abode of a powerful and opulent empire; for there is no

other part of Italy in which a city could be situated so as to be able

to maintain so wide a dominion with so much ease.

VI. As to the natural fortifications of Rome, who is so negligent and

unobservant as not to have them depicted and deeply stamped on his

memory? Such is the plan and direction of the walls, which, by the

prudence of Romulus and his royal successors, are bounded on all sides

by steep and rugged hills; and the only aperture between the Esquiline

and Quirinal mountains is enclosed by a formidable rampart, and

surrounded by an immense fosse. And as for our fortified citadel, it is

so secured by a precipitous barrier and enclosure of rocks, that, even

in that horrible attack and invasion of the Gauls, it remained

impregnable and inviolable. Moreover, the site which he selected had

also an abundance of fountains, and was healthy, though it was in the

midst of a pestilential region; for there are hills which at once

create a current of fresh air, and fling an agreeable shade over the

valleys.

VII. These things he effected with wonderful rapidity, and thus

established the city, which, from his own name Romulus, he determined

to call Rome. And in order to strengthen his new city, he conceived a

design, singular enough, and even a little rude, yet worthy of a great

man, and of a genius which discerned far away in futurity the means of

strengthening his power and his people. The young Sabine females of

honorable birth who had come to Rome, attracted by the public games and

spectacles which Romulus then, for the first time, established as

annual games in the circus, were suddenly carried off at the feast of

Consus[313] by his orders, and were given in marriage to the men of the

noblest families in Rome. And when, on this account, the Sabines had

declared war against Rome, the issue of the battle being doubtful and

undecided, Romulus made an alliance with Tatius, King of the Sabines,

at the intercession of the matrons themselves who had been carried off.

By this compact he admitted the Sabines into the city, gave them a

participation in the religious ceremonies, and divided his power with

their king.

VIII. But after the death of Tatius, the entire government was again

vested in the hands of Romulus, although, besides making Tatius his own

partner, he had also elected some of the chiefs of the Sabines into the

royal council, who on account of their affectionate regard for the

people were called _patres_, or fathers. He also divided the people

into three tribes, called after the name of Tatius, and his own name,

and that of Locumo, who had fallen as his ally in the Sabine war; and

also into thirty curiæ, designated by the names of those Sabine

virgins, who, after being carried off at the festivals, generously

offered themselves as the mediators of peace and coalition.

But though these orders were established in the life of Tatius, yet,

after his death, Romulus reigned with still greater power by the

counsel and authority of the senate.

IX. In this respect he approved and adopted the principle which

Lycurgus but little before had applied to the government of Lacedæmon;

namely, that the monarchical authority and the royal power operate best

in the government of states when to this supreme authority is joined

the influence of the noblest of the citizens.

Therefore, thus supported, and, as it were, propped up by this council

or senate, Romulus conducted many wars with the neighboring nations in

a most successful manner; and while he refused to take any portion of

the booty to his own palace, he did not cease to enrich the citizens.

He also cherished the greatest respect for that institution of

hierarchical and ecclesiastical ordinances which we still retain to the

great benefit of the Commonwealth; for in the very commencement of his

government he founded the city with religious rites, and in the

institution of all public establishments he was equally careful in

attending to these sacred ceremonials, and associated with himself on

these occasions priests that were selected from each of the tribes. He

also enacted that the nobles should act as patrons and protectors to

the inferior citizens, their natural clients and dependants, in their

respective districts, a measure the utility of which I shall afterward

notice.--The judicial punishments were mostly fines of sheep and oxen;

for the property of the people at that time consisted in their fields

and cattle, and this circumstance has given rise to the expressions

which still designate real and personal wealth. Thus the people were

kept in order rather by mulctations than by bodily inflictions.

X. After Romulus had thus reigned thirty-seven years, and established

these two great supports of government, the hierarchy and the senate,

having disappeared in a sudden eclipse of the sun, he was thought

worthy of being added to the number of the Gods--an honor which no

mortal man ever was able to attain to but by a glorious pre-eminence of

virtue. And this circumstance was the more to be admired in the case of

Romulus because most of the great men that have been deified were so

exalted to celestial dignities by the people, in periods very little

enlightened, when fiction was easy and ignorance went hand-in-hand with

credulity. But with respect to Romulus we know that he lived less than

six centuries ago, at a time when science and literature were already

advanced, and had got rid of many of the ancient errors that had

prevailed among less civilized peoples. For if, as we consider proved

by the Grecian annals, Rome was founded in the seventh Olympiad, the

life of Romulus was contemporary with that period in which Greece

already abounded in poets and musicians--an age when fables, except

those concerning ancient matters, received little credit.

For, one hundred and eight years after the promulgation of the laws of

Lycurgus, the first Olympiad was established, which indeed, through a

mistake of names, some authors have supposed constituted, by Lycurgus

likewise. And Homer himself, according to the best computation, lived

about thirty years before the time of Lycurgus. We must conclude,

therefore, that Homer flourished very many years before the date of

Romulus. So that, as men had now become learned, and as the times

themselves were not destitute of knowledge, there was not much room

left for the success of mere fictions. Antiquity indeed has received

fables that have at times been sufficiently improbable: but this epoch,

which was already so cultivated, disdaining every fiction that was

impossible, rejected[314] * * * We may therefore, perhaps, attach some

credit to this story of Romulus's immortality, since human life was at

that time experienced, cultivated, and instructed. And doubtless there

was in him such energy of genius and virtue that it is not altogether

impossible to believe the report of Proculus Julius, the husbandman, of

that glorification having befallen Romulus which for many ages we have

denied to less illustrious men. At all events, Proculus is reported to

have stated in the council, at the instigation of the senators, who

wished to free themselves from all suspicion of having been accessaries

to the death of Romulus, that he had seen him on that hill which is now

called the Quirinal, and that he had commanded him to inform the people

that they should build him a temple on that same hill, and offer him

sacrifices under the name of Quirinus.

XI. You see, therefore, that the genius of this great man did not

merely establish the constitution of a new people, and then leave them,

as it were, crying in their cradle; but he still continued to

superintend their education till they had arrived at an adult and

wellnigh a mature age.

Then Lælius said: We now see, my Scipio, what you meant when you said

that you would adopt a new method of discussing the science of

government, different from any found in the writings of the Greeks. For

that prime master of philosophy, whom none ever surpassed in eloquence,

I mean Plato, chose an open plain on which to build an imaginary city

after his own taste--a city admirably conceived, as none can deny, but

remote enough from the real life and manners of men. Others, without

proposing to themselves any model or type of government whatever, have

argued on the constitutions and forms of states. You, on the contrary,

appear to be about to unite these two methods; for, as far as you have

gone, you seem to prefer attributing to others your discoveries, rather

than start new theories under your own name and authority, as Socrates

has done in the writings of Plato. Thus, in speaking of the site of

Rome, you refer to a systematic policy, to the acts of Romulus, which

were many of them the result of necessity or chance; and you do not

allow your discourse to run riot over many states, but you fix and

concentrate it on our own Commonwealth. Proceed, then, in the course

you have adopted; for I see that you intend to examine our other kings,

in your pursuit of a perfect republic, as it were.

XII. Therefore, said Scipio, when that senate of Romulus which was

composed of the nobles, whom the king himself respected so highly that

he designated them _patres_, or fathers, and their children patricians,

attempted after the death of Romulus to conduct the government without

a king, the people would not suffer it, but, amidst their regret for

Romulus, desisted not from demanding a fresh monarch. The nobles then

prudently resolved to establish an interregnum--a new political form,

unknown to other nations. It was not without its use, however, since,

during the interval which elapsed before the definitive nomination of

the new king, the State was not left without a ruler, nor subjected too

long to the same governor, nor exposed to the fear lest some one, in

consequence of the prolonged enjoyment of power, should become more

unwilling to lay it aside, or more powerful if he wished to secure it

permanently for himself. At which time this new nation discovered a

political provision which had escaped the Spartan Lycurgus, who

conceived that the monarch ought not to be elective--if indeed it is

true that this depended on Lycurgus--but that it was better for the

Lacedæmonians to acknowledge as their sovereign the next heir of the

race of Hercules, whoever he might be: but our Romans, rude as they

were, saw the importance of appointing a king, not for his family, but

for his virtue and experience.

XIII. And fame having recognized these eminent qualities in Numa

Pompilius, the Roman people, without partiality for their own citizens,

committed itself, by the counsel of the senators, to a king of foreign

origin, and summoned this Sabine from the city of Cures to Rome, that

he might reign over them. Numa, although the people had proclaimed him

king in their Comitia Curiata, did nevertheless himself pass a Lex

Curiata respecting his own authority; and observing that the

institutions of Romulus had too much excited the military propensities

of the people, he judged it expedient to recall them from this habit of

warfare by other employments.

XIV. And, in the first place, he divided severally among the citizens

the lands which Romulus had conquered, and taught them that even

without the aid of pillage and devastation they could, by the

cultivation of their own territories, procure themselves all kinds of

commodities. And he inspired them with the love of peace and

tranquillity, in which faith and justice are likeliest to flourish, and

extended the most powerful protection to the people in the cultivation

of their fields and the enjoyment of their produce. Pompilius likewise

having created hierarchical institutions of the highest class, added

two augurs to the old number. He intrusted the superintendence of the

sacred rites to five pontiffs, selected from the body of the nobles;

and by those laws which we still preserve on our monuments he

mitigated, by religious ceremonials, the minds that had been too long

inflamed by military enthusiasm and enterprise.

He also established the Flamines and the Salian priests and the Vestal

Virgins, and regulated all departments of our ecclesiastical policy

with the most pious care. In the ordinance of sacrifices, he wished

that the ceremonial should be very arduous and the expenditure very

light. He thus appointed many observances, whose knowledge is extremely

important, and whose expense far from burdensome. Thus in religious

worship he added devotion and removed costliness. He was also the first

to introduce markets, games, and the other usual methods of assembling

and uniting men. By these establishments, he inclined to benevolence

and amiability spirits whom the passion for war had rendered savage and

ferocious. Having thus reigned in the greatest peace and concord

thirty-nine years--for in dates we mainly follow our Polybius, than

whom no one ever gave more attention to the investigation of the

history of the times--he departed this life, having corroborated the

two grand principles of political stability, religion and clemency.

XV. When Scipio had concluded these remarks, Is it not, said Manilius,

a true tradition which is current, that our king Numa was a disciple of

Pythagoras himself, or that at least he was a Pythagorean in his

doctrines? For I have often heard this from my elders, and we know that

it is the popular opinion; but it does not seem to be clearly proved by

the testimony of our public annals.

Then Scipio replied: The supposition is false, my Manilius; it is not

merely a fiction, but a ridiculous and bungling one too; and we should

not tolerate those statements, even in fiction, relating to facts which

not only did not happen, but which never could have happened. For it

was not till the fourth year of the reign of Tarquinius Superbus that

Pythagoras is ascertained to have come to Sybaris, Crotona, and this

part of Italy. And the sixty-second Olympiad is the common date of the

elevation of Tarquin to the throne, and of the arrival of Pythagoras.

From which it appears, when we calculate the duration of the reigns of

the kings, that about one hundred and forty years must have elapsed

after the death of Numa before Pythagoras first arrived in Italy. And

this fact, in the minds of men who have carefully studied the annals of

time, has never been at all doubted.

O ye immortal Gods! said Manilius, how deep and how inveterate is this

error in the minds of men! However, it costs me no effort to concede

that our Roman sciences were not imported from beyond the seas, but

that they sprung from our own indigenous and domestic virtues.

XVI. You will become still more convinced of this fact, said Africanus,

when tracing the progress of our Commonwealth as it became gradually

developed to its best and maturest condition. And you will find yet

further occasion to admire the wisdom of our ancestors on this very

account, since you will perceive, that even those things which they

borrowed from foreigners received a much higher improvement among us

than they possessed in the countries from whence they were imported

among us; and you will learn that the Roman people was aggrandized, not

by chance or hazard, but rather by counsel and discipline, to which

fortune indeed was by no means unfavorable.

XVII. After the death of King Pompilius, the people, after a short

period of interregnum, chose Tullus Hostilius for their king, in the

Comitia Curiata; and Tullus, after Numa's example, consulted the people

in their curias to procure a sanction for his government. His

excellence chiefly appeared in his military glory and great

achievements in war. He likewise, out of his military spoils,

constructed and decorated the House of Comitia and the Senate-house. He

also settled the ceremonies of the proclamation of hostilities, and

consecrated their righteous institution by the religious sanction of

the Fetial priests, so that every war which was not duly announced and

declared might be adjudged illegal, unjust, and impious. And observe

how wisely our kings at that time perceived that certain rights ought

to be allowed to the people, of which we shall have a good deal to say

hereafter. Tullus did not even assume the ensigns of royalty without

the approbation of the people; and when he appointed twelve lictors,

with their axes to go before him[315] * * *

XVIII. * * * [_Manilius_.] This Commonwealth of Rome, which you are so

eloquently describing, did not creep towards perfection; it rather flew

at once to the maturity of its grandeur.

[_Scipio._] After Tullus, Ancus Martius, a descendant of Numa by his

daughter, was appointed king by the people. He also procured the

passing of a law[316] through the Comitia Curiata respecting his

government. This king having conquered the Latins, admitted them to the

rights of citizens of Rome. He added to the city the Aventine and

Cælian hills; he distributed the lands he had taken in war; he bestowed

on the public all the maritime forests he had acquired; and he built

the city Ostia, at the mouth of the Tiber, and colonized it. When he

had thus reigned twenty-three years, he died.

Then said Lælius: Doubtless this king deserves our praises, but the

Roman history is obscure. We possess, indeed, the name of this

monarch's mother, but we know nothing of his father.

It is so, said Scipio; but in those ages little more than the names of

the kings were recorded.

XIX. For the first time at this period, Rome appears to have become

more learned by the study of foreign literature; for it was no longer a

little rivulet, flowing from Greece towards the walls of our city, but

an overflowing river of Grecian sciences and arts. This is generally

attributed to Demaratus, a Corinthian, the first man of his country in

reputation, honor, and wealth; who, not being able to bear the

despotism of Cypselus, tyrant of Corinth, fled with large treasures,

and arrived at Tarquinii, the most flourishing city in Etruria. There,

understanding that the domination of Cypselus was thoroughly

established, he, like a free and bold-hearted man, renounced his

country, and was admitted into the number of the citizens of Tarquinii,

and fixed his residence in that city. And having married a woman of the

city, he instructed his two sons, according to the method of Greek

education, in all kinds of sciences and arts.[317] * * *

XX. * * * [One of these sons] was easily admitted to the rights of

citizenship at Rome; and on account of his accomplished manners and

learning, he became a favorite of our king Ancus to such a degree that

he was a partner in all his counsels, and was looked upon almost as his

associate in the government. He, besides, possessed wonderful

affability, and was very kind in assistance, support, protection, and

even gifts of money, to the citizens.

When, therefore, Ancus died, the people by their unanimous suffrages

chose for their king this Lucius Tarquinius (for he had thus

transformed the Greek name of his family, that he might seem in all

respects to imitate the customs of his adopted countrymen). And when

he, too, had procured the passing of a law respecting his authority, he

commenced his reign by doubling the original number of the senators.

The ancient senators he called patricians of the major families

(_patres majorum gentium_), and he asked their votes first; and those

new senators whom he himself had added, he entitled patricians of minor

families. After this, he established the order of knights, on the plan

which we maintain to this day. He would not, however, change the

denomination of the Tatian, Rhamnensian, and Lucerian orders, though he

wished to do so, because Attus Nævius, an augur of the highest

reputation, would not sanction it. And, indeed, I am aware that the

Corinthians were remarkably attentive to provide for the maintenance

and good condition of their cavalry by taxes levied on the inheritance

of widows and orphans. To the first equestrian orders Lucius also added

new ones, composing a body of three hundred knights. And this number he

doubled, after having conquered the Æquicoli, a large and ferocious

people, and dangerous enemies of the Roman State. Having likewise

repulsed from our walls an invasion of the Sabines, he routed them by

the aid of his cavalry, and subdued them. He also was the first person

who instituted the grand games which are now called the Roman Games. He

fulfilled his vow to build a temple to the all-good and all-powerful

Jupiter in the Capitol--a vow which he made during a battle in the

Sabine war--and died after a reign of thirty-eight years.

XXI. Then Lælius said: All that you have been relating corroborates the

saying of Cato, that the constitution of the Roman Commonwealth is not

the work of one man, or one age; for we can clearly see what a great

progress in excellent and useful institutions was continued under each

successive king. But we are now arrived at the reign of a monarch who

appears to me to have been of all our kings he who had the greatest

foresight in matters of political government.

So it appears to me, said Scipio; for after Tarquinius Priscus comes

Servius Sulpicius, who was the first who is reported to have reigned

without an order from the people. He is supposed to have been the son

of a female slave at Tarquinii, by one of the soldiers or clients of

King Priscus; and as he was educated among the servants of this prince,

and waiting on him at table, the king soon observed the fire of his

genius, which shone forth even from his childhood, so skilful was he in

all his words and actions. Therefore, Tarquin, whose own children were

then very young, so loved Servius that he was very commonly believed to

be his own son, and he instructed him with the greatest care in all the

sciences with which he was acquainted, according to the most exact

discipline of the Greeks.

But when Tarquin had perished by the plots of the sons of Ancus, and

Servius (as I have said) had begun to reign, not by the order, but yet

with the good-will and consent, of the citizens--because, as it was

falsely reported that Priscus was recovering from his wounds, Servius,

arrayed in the royal robes, delivered judgment, freed the debtors at

his own expense, and, exhibiting the greatest affability, announced

that he delivered judgment at the command of Priscus--he did not commit

himself to the senate; but, after Priscus was buried, he consulted the

people respecting his authority, and, being authorized by them to

assume the dominion, he procured a law to be passed through the Comitia

Curiata, confirming his government.

He then, in the first place, avenged the injuries of the Etruscans by

arms. After which[318] * * *

XXII. * * * he enrolled eighteen centuries of knights of the first

order. Afterward, having created a great number of knights from the

common mass of the people, he divided the rest of the people into five

classes, distinguishing between the seniors and the juniors. These he

so constituted as to place the suffrages, not in the hands of the

multitude, but in the power of the men of property. And he took care to

make it a rule of ours, as it ought to be in every government, that the

greatest number should not have the greatest weight. You are well

acquainted with this institution, otherwise I would explain it to you;

but you are familiar with the whole system, and know how the centuries

of knights, with six suffrages, and the first class, comprising eighty

centuries, besides one other century which was allotted to the

artificers, on account of their utility to the State, produce

eighty-nine centuries. If to these there are added twelve

centuries--for that is the number of the centuries of the knights which

remain[319]--the entire force of the State is summed up; and the

arrangement is such that the remaining and far more numerous multitude,

which is distributed through the ninety-six last centuries, is not

deprived of a right of suffrage, which would be an arrogant measure;

nor, on the other hand, permitted to exert too great a preponderance in

the government, which would be dangerous.

In this arrangement, Servius was very cautious in his choice of terms

and denominations. He called the rich _assidui_, because they afforded

pecuniary succor[320] to the State. As to those whoso fortune did not

exceed 1500 pence, or those who had nothing but their labor, he called

them _proletarii_ classes, as if the State should expect from them a

hardy progeny[321] and population.

Even a single one of the ninety-six last centuries contained

numerically more citizens than the entire first class. Thus, no one was

excluded from his right of voting, yet the preponderance of votes was

secured to those who had the deepest stake in the welfare of the State.

Moreover, with reference to the accensi, velati, trumpeters,

hornblowers, proletarii[322] * * *

XXIII. * * * That that republic is arranged in the best manner which,

being composed in due proportions of those three elements, the

monarchical, the aristocratical, and the democratic, does not by

punishment irritate a fierce and savage mind. * * * [A similar

institution prevailed at Carthage], which was sixty-five years more

ancient than Rome, since it was founded thirty-nine years before the

first Olympiad; and that most ancient law-giver Lycurgus made nearly

the same arrangements. Thus the system of regular subordination, and

this mixture of the three principal forms of government, appear to me

common alike to us and them. But there is a peculiar advantage in our

Commonwealth, than which nothing can be more excellent, which I shall

endeavor to describe as accurately as possible, because it is of such a

character that nothing analogous can be discovered in ancient states;

for these political elements which I have noticed were so united in the

constitutions of Rome, of Sparta, and of Carthage, that they were not

counterbalanced by any modifying power. For in a state in which one man

is invested with a perpetual domination, especially of the monarchical

character, although there be a senate in it, as there was in Rome under

the kings, and in Sparta, by the laws of Lycurgus, or even where the

people exercise a sort of jurisdiction, as they used in the days of our

monarchy, the title of king must still be pre-eminent; nor can such a

state avoid being, and being called, a kingdom. And this kind of

government is especially subject to frequent revolutions, because the

fault of a single individual is sufficient to precipitate it into the

most pernicious disasters.

In itself, however, royalty is not only not a reprehensible form of

government, but I do not know whether it is not far preferable to all

other simple constitutions, if I approved of any simple constitution

whatever. But this preference applies to royalty so long only as it

maintains its appropriate character; and this character provides that

one individual's perpetual power, and justice, and universal wisdom

should regulate the safety, equality, and tranquillity of the whole

people. But many privileges must be wanting to communities that live

under a king; and, in the first place, liberty, which does not consist

in slavery to a just master, but in slavery to no master at all[323]

* * *

XXIV. * * * [Let us now pass on to the reign of the seventh and last

king of Rome, Tarquinius Superbus.] And even this unjust and cruel

master had good fortune for his companion for some time in all his

enterprises. For he subdued all Latium; he captured Suessa Pometia, a

powerful and wealthy city, and, becoming possessed of an immense spoil

of gold and silver, he accomplished his father's vow by the building of

the Capitol. He established colonies, and, faithful to the institutions

of those from whom he sprung, he sent magnificent presents, as tokens

of gratitude for his victories, to Apollo at Delphi.

XXV. Here begins the revolution of our political system of government,

and I must beg your attention to its natural course and progression.

For the grand point of political science, the object of our discourses,

is to know the march and the deviations of governments, that when we

are acquainted with the particular courses and inclinations of

constitutions, we may be able to restrain them from their fatal

tendencies, or to oppose adequate obstacles to their decline and fall.

For this Tarquinius Superbus, of whom I am speaking, being first of all

stained with the blood of his admirable predecessor on the throne,

could not be a man of sound conscience and mind; and as he feared

himself the severest punishment for his enormous crime, he sought his

protection in making himself feared. Then, in the glory of his

victories and his treasures, he exulted in insolent pride, and could

neither regulate his own manners nor the passions of the members of his

family.

When, therefore, his eldest son had offered violence to Lucretia,

daughter of Tricipitinus and wife of Collatinus, and this chaste and

noble lady had stabbed herself to death on account of the injury she

could not survive--then a man eminent for his genius and virtue, Lucius

Brutus, dashed from his fellow-citizens this unjust yoke of odious

servitude; and though he was but a private man, he sustained the

government of the entire Commonwealth, and was the first that taught

the people in this State that no one was a private man when the

preservation of our liberties was concerned. Beneath his authority and

command our city rose against tyranny, and, stirred by the recent grief

of the father and relatives of Lucretia, and with the recollections of

Tarquin's haughtiness, and the numberless crimes of himself and his

sons, they pronounced sentence of banishment against him and his

children, and the whole race of the Tarquins.

XXVI. Do you not observe, then, how the king sometimes degenerates into

the despot, and how, by the fault of one individual, a form of

government originally good is abused to the worst of purposes? Here is

a specimen of that despot over the people whom the Greeks denominate a

tyrant. For, according to them, a king is he who, like a father,

consults the interests of his people, and who preserves those whom he

is set over in the very best condition of life. This indeed is, as I

have said, an excellent form of government, yet still liable, and, as

it were, inclined, to a pernicious abuse. For as soon as a king assumes

an unjust and despotic power, he instantly becomes a tyrant, than which

nothing baser or fouler, than which no imaginable animal can be more

detestable to gods or men; for though in form a man, he surpasses the

most savage monsters in ferocious cruelty. For who can justly call him

a human being, who admits not between himself and his

fellow-countrymen, between himself and the whole human race, any

communication of justice, any association of kindness? But we shall

find some fitter occasion of speaking of the evils of tyranny when the

subject itself prompts us to declare against them who, even in a state

already liberated, have affected these despotic insolencies.

XXVII. Such is the first origin and rise of a tyrant. For this was the

name by which the Greeks choose to designate an unjust king; and by the

title king our Romans universally understand every man who exercises

over the people a perpetual and undivided domination. Thus Spurius

Cassius, and Marcus Manlius, and Spurius Mælius, are said to have

wished to seize upon the kingly power, and lately [Tiberius Gracchus

incurred the same accusation].[324] * * *

XXVIII. * * * [Lycurgus, in Sparta, formed, under the name of Elders,]

a small council consisting of twenty-eight members only; to these he

allotted the supreme legislative authority, while the king held the

supreme executive authority. Our Romans, emulating his example, and

translating his terms, entitled those whom he had called Elders,

Senators, which, as we have said, was done by Romulus in reference to

the elect patricians. In this constitution, however, the power, the

influence, and name of the king is still pre-eminent. You may

distribute, indeed, some show of power to the people, as Lycurgus and

Romulus did, but you inflame them, with the thirst of liberty by

allowing them even the slightest taste of its sweetness; and still

their hearts will be overcast with alarm lest their king, as often

happens, should become unjust. The prosperity of the people, therefore,

can be little better than fragile, when placed at the disposal of any

one individual, and subjected to his will and caprices.

XXIX. Thus the first example, prototype, and original of tyranny has

been discovered by us in the history of our own Roman State,

religiously founded by Romulus, without applying to the theoretical

Commonwealth which, according to Plato's recital, Socrates was

accustomed to describe in his peripatetic dialogues. We have observed

Tarquin, not by the usurpation of any new power, but by the unjust

abuse of the power which he already possessed, overturn the whole

system of our monarchical constitution.

Let us oppose to this example of the tyrant another, a virtuous

king--wise, experienced, and well informed respecting the true interest

and dignity of the citizens--a guardian, as it were, and superintendent

of the Commonwealth; for that is a proper name for every ruler and

governor of a state. And take you care to recognize such a man when you

meet him, for he is the man who, by counsel and exertion, can best

protect the nation. And as the name of this man has not yet been often

mentioned in our discourse, and as the character of such a man must be

often alluded to in our future conversations, [I shall take an early

opportunity of describing it.][325] * * *

XXX. * * * [Plato has chosen to suppose a territory and establishments

of citizens, whose fortunes] were precisely equal. And he has given us

a description of a city, rather to be desired than expected; and he has

made out not such a one as can really exist, but one in which the

principles of political affairs may be discerned. But for me, if I can

in any way accomplish it, while I adopt the same general principles as

Plato, I am seeking to reduce them to experience and practice, not in

the shadow and picture of a state, but in a real and actual

Commonwealth, of unrivalled amplitude and power; in order to be able to

point out, with the most graphic precision, the causes of every

political good and social evil.

For after Rome had flourished more than two hundred and forty years

under her kings and interreges, and after Tarquin was sent into

banishment, the Roman people conceived as much detestation of the name

of king as they had once experienced regret at the death, or rather

disappearance, of Romulus. Therefore, as in the first instance they

could hardly bear the idea of losing a king, so in the latter, after

the expulsion of Tarquin, they could not endure to hear the name of a

king.[326] * * *

XXXI. * * * Therefore, when that admirable constitution of Romulus had

lasted steadily about two hundred and forty years. * * * The whole of

that law was abolished. In this humor, our ancestors banished

Collatinus, in spite of his innocence, because of the suspicion that

attached to his family, and all the rest of the Tarquins, on account of

the unpopularity of their name. In the same humor, Valerius Publicola

was the first to lower the fasces before the people, when he spoke in

the assembly of the people. He also had the materials of his house

conveyed to the foot of Mount Velia, having observed that the

commencement of his edifice on the summit of this hill, where King

Tullius had once dwelt, excited the suspicions of the people.

It was the same man, who in this respect pre-eminently deserved the

name of Publicola, who carried in favor of the people the first law

received in the Comitia Centuriata, that no magistrate should sentence

to death or scourging a Roman citizen who appealed from his authority

to the people. And the pontifical books attest that the right of appeal

had existed, even against the decision of the kings. Our augural books

affirm the same thing. And the Twelve Tables prove, by a multitude of

laws, that there was a right of appeal from every judgment and penalty.

Besides, the historical fact that the decemviri who compiled the laws

were created with the privilege of judging without appeal, sufficiently

proves that the other magistrates had not the same power. And a

consular law, passed by Lucius Valerius Politus and Marcus Horatius

Barbatus, men justly popular for promoting union and concord, enacted

that no magistrate should thenceforth be appointed with authority to

judge without appeal; and the Portian laws, the work of three citizens

of the name of Portius, as you are aware, added nothing new to this

edict but a penal sanction.

Therefore Publicola, having promulgated this law in favor of appeal to

the people, immediately ordered the axes to be removed from the fasces,

which the lictors carried before the consuls, and the next day

appointed Spurius Lucretius for his colleague. And as the new consul

was the oldest of the two, Publicola ordered his lictors to pass over

to him; and he was the first to establish the rule, that each of the

consuls should be preceded by the lictors in alternate months, that

there should be no greater appearance of imperial insignia among the

free people than they had witnessed in the days of their kings. Thus,

in my opinion, he proved himself no ordinary man, as, by so granting

the people a moderate degree of liberty, he more easily maintained the

authority of the nobles.

Nor is it without reason that I have related to you these ancient and

almost obsolete events; but I wished to adduce my instances of men and

circumstances from illustrious persons and times, as it is to such

events that the rest of my discourse will be directed.

XXXII. At that period, then, the senate preserved the Commonwealth in

such a condition that though the people were really free, yet few acts

were passed by the people, but almost all, on the contrary, by the

authority, customs, and traditions of the senate. And over all the

consuls exercised a power--in time, indeed, only annual, but in nature

and prerogative completely royal.

The consuls maintained, with the greatest energy, that rule which so

much conduces to the power of our nobles and great men, that the acts

of the commons of the people shall not be binding, unless the authority

of the patricians has approved them. About the same period, and

scarcely ten years after the first consuls, we find the appointment of

the dictator in the person of Titus Lartius. And this new kind of

power--namely, the dictatorship--appears exceedingly similar to the

monarchical royalty. All his power, however, was vested in the supreme

authority of the senate, to which the people deferred; and in these

times great exploits were performed in war by brave men invested with

the supreme command, whether dictators or consuls.

XXXIII. But as the nature of things necessarily brought it to pass that

the people, once freed from its kings, should arrogate to itself more

and more authority, we observe that after a short interval of only

sixteen years, in the consulship of Postumus Cominius and Spurius

Cassius, they attained their object; an event explicable, perhaps, on

no distinct principle, but, nevertheless, in a manner independent of

any distinct principle. For recollect what I said in commencing our

discourse, that if there exists not in the State a just distribution

and subordination of rights, offices, and prerogatives, so as to give

sufficient domination to the chiefs, sufficient authority to the

counsel of the senators, and sufficient liberty to the people, this

form of the government cannot be durable.

For when the excessive debts of the citizens had thrown the State into

disorder, the people first retired to Mount Sacer, and next occupied

Mount Aventine. And even the rigid discipline of Lycurgus could not

maintain those restraints in the case of the Greeks. For in Sparta

itself, under the reign of Theopompus, the five magistrates whom they

term Ephori, and in Crete ten whom they entitle Cosmi, were established

in opposition to the royal power, just as tribunes were added among us

to counterbalance the consular authority.

XXXIV. There might have been a method, indeed, by which our ancestors

could have been relieved from the pressure of debt, a method with which

Solon the Athenian, who lived at no very distant period before, was

acquainted, and which our senate did not neglect when, in the

indignation which the odious avarice of one individual excited, all the

bonds of the citizens were cancelled, and the right of arrest for a

while suspended. In the same way, when the plebeians were oppressed by

the weight of the expenses occasioned by public misfortunes, a cure and

remedy were sought for the sake of public security. The senate,

however, having forgotten their former decision, gave an advantage to

the democracy; for, by the creation of two tribunes to appease the

sedition of the people, the power and authority of the senate were

diminished; which, however, still remained dignified and august,

inasmuch as it was still composed of the wisest and bravest men, who

protected their country both with their arms and with their counsels;

whose authority was exceedingly strong and flourishing, because in

honor they were as much before their fellow-citizens as they were

inferior in luxuriousness, and, as a general rule, not superior to them

in wealth. And their public virtues were the more agreeable to the

people, because even in private matters they were ready to serve every

citizen, by their exertions, their counsels, and their liberality.

XXXV. Such was the situation of the Commonwealth when the quæstor

impeached Spurius Cassius of being so much emboldened by the excessive

favor of the people as to endeavor to make himself master of

monarchical power. And, as you have heard, his own father, having said

that he had found that his son was really guilty of this crime,

condemned him to death at the instance of the people. About fifty-four

years after the first consulate, Spurius Tarpeius and Aulus Aternius

very much gratified the people by proposing, in the Comitia Centuriata,

the substitution of fines instead of corporal punishments. Twenty years

afterward, Lucius Papirius and Publius Pinarius, the censors, having by

a strict levy of fines confiscated to the State the entire flocks and

herds of many private individuals, a light tax on the cattle was

substituted for the law of fines in the consulship of Caius Julius and

Publius Papirius.

XXXVI. But, some years previous to this, at a period when the senate

possessed the supreme influence, and the people were submissive and

obedient, a new system was adopted. At that time both the consuls and

tribunes of the people abdicated their magistracies, and the decemviri

were appointed, who were invested with great authority, from which

there was no appeal whatever, so as to exercise the chief domination,

and to compile the laws. After having composed, with much wisdom and

equity, the Ten Tables of laws, they nominated as their successors in

the ensuing year other decemviri, whose good faith and justice do not

deserve equal praise. One member of this college, however, merits our

highest commendation. I allude to Caius Julius, who declared respecting

the nobleman Lucius Sestius, in whose chamber a dead body had been

exhumed under his own eyes, that though as decemvir he held the highest

power without appeal, he still required bail, because he was unwilling

to neglect that admirable law which permitted no court but the Comitia

Centuriata to pronounce final sentence on the life of a Roman citizen.

XXXVII. A third year followed under the authority of the same

decemvirs, and still they were not disposed to appoint their

successors. In a situation of the Commonwealth like this, which, as I

have often repeated, could not be durable, because it had not an equal

operation with respect to all the ranks of the citizens, the whole

public power was lodged in the hands of the chiefs and decemvirs of the

highest nobility, without the counterbalancing authority of the

tribunes of the people, without the sanction of any other magistracies,

and without appeal to the people in the case of a sentence of death or

scourging.

Thus, out of the injustice of these men, there was suddenly produced a

great revolution, which changed the entire condition of the government,

or they added two tables of very tyrannical laws, and though

matrimonial alliances had always been permitted, even with foreigners,

they forbade, by the most abominable and inhuman edict, that any

marriages should take place between the nobles and the commons--an

order which was afterward abrogated by the decree of Canuleius.

Besides, they introduced into all their political measures corruption,

cruelty, and avarice. And indeed the story is well known, and

celebrated in many literary compositions, that a certain Decimus

Virginius was obliged, on account of the libidinous violence of one of

these decemvirs, to stab his virgin daughter in the midst of the forum.

Then, when he in his desperation had fled to the Roman army which was

encamped on Mount Algidum, the soldiers abandoned the war in which they

were engaged, and took possession of the Sacred Mount, as they had done

before on a similar occasion, and next invested Mount Aventine in their

arms.[327] Our ancestors knew how to prove most thoroughly, and to

retain most wisely. * * *

XXXVIII. And when Scipio had spoken in this manner, and all his friends

were awaiting in silence the rest of his discourse, then said Tubero:

Since these men who are older than I, my Scipio, make no fresh demands

on you, I shall take the liberty to tell you what I particularly wish

you would explain in your subsequent remarks.

Do so, said Scipio, and I shall be glad to hear.

Then Tubero said: You appear to me to have spoken a panegyric on our

Commonwealth of Rome exclusively, though Lælius requested your views

not only of the government of our own State, but of the policy of

states in general. I have not, therefore, yet sufficiently learned from

your discourse, with respect to that mixed form of government you most

approve, by what discipline, moral and legal, we may be best able to

establish and maintain it.

XXXIX. Africanus replied: I think that we shall soon find an occasion

better adapted to the discussion you have proposed, respecting the

constitution and conservatism of states. As to the best form of

government, I think on this point I have sufficiently answered the

question of Lælius. For in answering him, I, in the first place,

specifically noticed the three simple forms of government--monarchy,

aristocracy, and democracy; and the three vicious constitutions

contrary to them, into which they often degenerate; and I said that

none of these forms, taken separately, was absolutely good; but I

described as preferable to either of them that mixed government which

is composed of a proper amalgamation of these simple ingredients. If I

have since depicted our own Roman constitution as an example, it was

not in order to define the very best form of government, for that may

be understood without an example; but I wished, in the exhibition of a

mighty commonwealth actually in existence, to render distinct and

visible what reason and discourse would vainly attempt to display

without the assistance of experimental illustration. Yet, if you still

require me to describe the best form of government, independent of all

particular examples, we must consult that exactly proportioned and

graduated image of government which nature herself presents to her

investigators. Since you * * * this model of a city and people[328]

* * *

XL. * * * which I also am searching for, and which I am anxious to

arrive at.

_Lælius._ You mean the model that would be approved by the truly

accomplished politician?

_Scipio._ The same.

_Lælius._ You have plenty of fair patterns even now before you, if you

would but begin with yourself.

Then Scipio said: I wish I could find even one such, even in the entire

senate. For he is really a wise politician who, as we have often seen

in Africa, while seated on a huge and unsightly elephant, can guide and

rule the monster, and turn him whichever way he likes by a slight

admonition, without any actual exertion.

_Lælius._ I recollect, and when I was your lieutenant I often saw, one

of these drivers.

_Scipio._ Thus an Indian or Carthaginian regulates one of these huge

animals, and renders him docile and familiar with human manners. But

the genius which resides in the mind of man, by whatever name it may be

called, is required to rein and tame a monster far more multiform and

intractable, whenever it can accomplish it, which indeed is seldom. It

is necessary to hold in with a strong hand that ferocious[329] * * *

XLI. * * * [beast, denominated the mob, which thirsts after blood] to

such a degree that it can scarcely be sated with the most hideous

massacres of men. * * *

But to a man who is greedy, and grasping, and lustful, and

fond of wallowing in voluptuousness.

The fourth kind of anxiety is that which is prone to mourning

and melancholy, and which is constantly worrying itself.

[_The next paragraph, "Esse autem angores," etc.,

is wholly unintelligible without the context._]

As an unskilful charioteer is dragged from his chariot,

covered with dirt, bruised, and lacerated.

The excitements of men's minds are like a chariot, with

horses harnessed to it; in the proper management of which,

the chief duty of the driver consists in knowing his road:

and if he keeps the road, then, however rapidly he proceeds,

he will encounter no obstacles; but if he quits the proper

track, then, although he may be going gently and slowly, he

will either be perplexed on rugged ground, or fall over some

steep place, or at least he will be carried where he has no

need to go.[330]

XLII. * * * can be said.

Then Lælius said: I now see the sort of politician you require, on whom

you would impose the office and task of government, which is what I

wished to understand.

He must be an almost unique specimen, said Africanus, for the task

which I set him comprises all others. He must never cease from

cultivating and studying himself, that he may excite others to imitate

him, and become, through the splendor of his talents and enterprises, a

living mirror to his countrymen. For as in flutes and harps, and in all

vocal performances, a certain unison and harmony must be preserved

amidst the distinctive tones, which cannot be broken or violated

without offending experienced ears; and as this concord and delicious

harmony is produced by the exact gradation and modulation of dissimilar

notes; even so, by means of the just apportionment of the highest,

middle, and lower classes, the State is maintained in concord and peace

by the harmonic subordination of its discordant elements: and thus,

that which is by musicians called harmony in song answers and

corresponds to what we call concord in the State--concord, the

strongest and loveliest bond of security in every commonwealth, being

always accompanied by justice and equity.

XLIII. And after this, when Scipio had discussed with

considerable breadth of principle and felicity of

illustration the great advantage that justice is to a state,

and the great injury which would arise if it were wanting,

Pilus, one of those who were present at the discussion, took

up the matter and demanded that this question should be

argued more carefully, and that something more should be said

about justice, on account of a sentiment that was now

obtaining among people in general, that political affairs

could not be wholly carried on without some disregard of

justice.

XLIV. * * * to be full of justice.

Then Scipio replied: I certainly think so. And I declare to you that I

consider that all I have spoken respecting the government of the State

is worth nothing, and that it will be useless to proceed further,

unless I can prove that it is a false assertion that political business

cannot be conducted without injustice and corruption; and, on the other

hand, establish as a most indisputable fact that without the strictest

justice no government whatever can last long.

But, with your permission, we have had discussion enough for the day.

The rest--and much remains for our consideration--we will defer till

to-morrow. When they had all agreed to this, the debate of the day was

closed.

* * * * *

INTRODUCTION TO THE THIRD BOOK,

BY THE ORIGINAL TRANSLATOR.

Cicero here enters on the grand question of Political Justice,

and endeavors to evince throughout the absolute verity of

that inestimable proverb, "Honesty is the best policy," in

all public as well as in all private affairs. St. Augustine,

in his City of God, has given the following analysis of this

magnificent disquisition:

"In the third book of Cicero's Commonwealth" (says he) "the

question of Political Justice is most earnestly discussed.

Philus is appointed to support, as well as he can, the

sophistical arguments of those who think that political

government cannot be carried on without the aid of injustice

and chicanery. He denies holding any such opinion himself;

yet, in order to exhibit the truth more vividly through the

force of contrast, he pleads with the utmost ingenuity the

cause of injustice against justice; and endeavors to show, by

plausible examples and specious dialectics, that injustice is

as useful to a statesman as justice would be injurious. Then

Lælius, at the general request, takes up the plea for

justice, and maintains with all his eloquence that nothing

could be so ruinous to states as injustice and dishonesty,

and that without a supreme justice, no political government

could expect a long duration. This point being sufficiently

proved, Scipio returns to the principal discussion. He

reproduces and enforces the short definition that he had

given of a commonwealth--that it consisted in the welfare of

the entire people, by which word 'people' he does not mean

the mob, but the community, bound together by the sense of

common rights and mutual benefits. He notices how important

such just definitions are in all debates whatever, and draws

this conclusion from the preceding arguments--that the

Commonwealth is the common welfare whenever it is swayed with

justice and wisdom, whether it be subordinated to a king, an

aristocracy, or a democracy. But if the king be unjust, and

so becomes a tyrant; and the aristocracy unjust, which makes

them a faction; or the democrats unjust, and so degenerate

into revolutionists and destructives--then not only the

Commonwealth is corrupted, but in fact annihilated. For it

can be no longer the common welfare when a tyrant or a

faction abuse it; and the people itself is no longer the

people when it becomes unjust, since it is no longer a

community associated by a sense of right and utility,

according to the definition."--_Aug. Civ. Dei._ 3-21.

This book is of the utmost importance to statesmen, as it

serves to neutralize the sophistries of Machiavelli, which

are still repeated in many cabinets.