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.But a constitution cannot remain unconquered, unlessit is defended alike by reason and common human passion: otherwise, ifit relies only on the help of reason, it is certainly weak and easilyovercome.Now since the fundamental constitution of both kinds ofaristocracy has been shown to agree with reason and common humanpassion, we can therefore assert that these, if any kinds of dominion,will be eternal, in other words, that they cannot be destroyed by anycause to which blame attaches, but only by some inevitable fate.10.But it may still be objected to us, that, although the constitutionof dominion above set forth is defended by reason and common humanpassion, yet for all that it may at some time be overpowered.For thereis no passion, that is not sometimes overpowered, by a stronger contraryone; for we frequently see the fear of death overpowered by the greed58 for another s property.Men, who are running away in panic fear from theenemy, can be stopped by the fear of nothing else, but throw themselvesinto rivers, or rush into fire, to escape the enemy s steel.In whateverdegree, therefore, a commonwealth is rightly ordered, and its laws wellmade; yet in the extreme difficulties of a dominion, when all, assometimes happens, are seized by a sort of panic terror, all, withoutregard to the future or the laws, approve only that which their actualfear suggests, all turn towards the man who is renowned for hisvictories, and set him free from the laws, and (establishing thereby theworst of precedents), continue him in command, and entrust to hisfidelity all affairs of state: and this was, in fact, the cause of thedestruction of the Roman dominion.But to answer this objection, I say,first, that in a rightly constituted republic such terror does not arisebut from a due cause.And so such terror and consequent confusion can beattributed to no cause avoidable by human foresight.In the next place,it is to be observed, that in a republic such as we have abovedescribed, it is impossible (Chap.VIII.Secs.9, 25) for this or thatman so to distinguish himself by the report of his virtue, as to turntowards himself the attention of all, but he must have many rivalsfavoured by others.And so, although from terror there arise someconfusion in the republic, yet no one will be able to elude the law anddeclare the election of anyone to an illegal military command, withoutits being immediately disputed by other candidates; and to settle thedispute, it will, in the end, be necessary to have recourse to theconstitution ordained once for all, and approved by all, and to orderthe affairs of the dominion according to the existing laws.I maytherefore absolutely assert, that as the aristocracy, which is in thehands of one city only, so especially that which is in the hands ofseveral, is everlasting, or, in other words, can be dissolved or changedinto another form by no internal cause.------1.Machiavelli.2.Cic.ad Quint.Grat.iii.8, 4.The better reading is "rumour," not"tumour." "The good" in such a passage means the aristocratic party.3.Not by law, except before B.C.287 and in the interval between thedictatorship of Sulla and the consulship of Pompey and Crassus.But inthe golden age of the republic the senate in fact controlled thetribunes.4.Ovid, "Amores," III.iv.17.------------------------CHAPTER XI.OF DEMOCRACY.I PASS, at length, to the third and perfectly absolute dominion, whichwe call democracy.The difference between this and aristocracy consists,we have said, chiefly in this, that in an aristocracy it depends on thesupreme council s will and free choice only, that this or that man ismade a patrician, so that no one has the right to vote or fill publicoffices by inheritance, and that no one can by right demand this right,as is the case in the dominion, whereof we are now treating.For all,who are born of citizen parents, or on the soil of the country, or who59 have deserved well of the republic, or have accomplished any otherconditions upon which the law grants to a man right of citizenship; theyall, I say, have a right to demand for themselves the right to vote inthe supreme council and to fill public offices, nor can they be refusedit, but for crime or infamy.2.If, then, it is by a law appointed, that the elder men only, who havereached a certain year of their age, or the first-born only, as soon astheir age allows, or those who contribute to the republic a certain sumof money, shall have the right of voting in the supreme council andmanaging the business of the dominion; then, although on this system theresult might be, that the supreme council would be composed of fewercitizens than that of the aristocracy of which we treated above, yet,for all that, dominions of this kind should be called democracies,because in them the citizens, who are destined to manage affairs ofstate, are not chosen as the best by the supreme council, but aredestined to it by a law.And although for this reason dominions of thiskind, that is, where not the best, but those who happen by chance to berich, or who are born eldest, are destined to govern, are thoughtinferior to an aristocracy; yet, if we reflect on the practice orgeneral condition of mankind, the result in both cases will come to thesame thing.For patricians will always think those the best, who arerich, or related to themselves in blood, or allied by friendship.And,indeed, if such were the nature of patricians, that they were free fromall passion, and guided by mere zeal for the public welfare in choosingtheir patrician colleagues, no dominion could be compared witharistocracy.But experience itself teaches us only too well, that thingspass in quite a contrary manner, above all, in oligarchies, where thewill of the patricians, from the absence of rivals, is most free fromthe law.For there the patricians intentionally keep away the best menfrom the council, and seek for themselves such colleagues in it, as hangupon their words, so that in such a dominion things are in a much moreunhappy condition, because the choice of patricians depends entirelyupon the arbitrary will of a few, which is free or unrestrained by anylaw.But I return to my subject.3.From what has been said in the last section, it is manifest that wecan conceive of various kinds of democracy.But my intention is not totreat of every kind, but of that only, "wherein all, without exception,who owe allegiance to the laws of the country only, and are furtherindependent and of respectable life, have the right of voting in thesupreme council and of filling the offices of the dominion." I sayexpressly."who owe allegiance to the laws of the country only," toexclude foreigners, who are treated as being under another s dominion
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