the queestor impeached Spurius Cassius. of being so. much emboldened by the excessive favour of the people, as to en- deavour 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 cor- poral punishments. Twenty years afterwards, 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. substi- tuted 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 abdi- cated 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.commen- dation. 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. pro- nounce 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 decemvyirs: of. the. highest nobility, ON THE COMMONWEALTH. 343 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 con- dition of the government; for they added two tables of very tyrannical laws, and though matrimonial alliances: had always been permitted, even with foreigners, they forbad, by the most abominable and inhuman: edict; that any marriages should take place between the nobles and: the:commons—an order which was afterwards abrogated by the decree of Canuleius. Besides, they introduced into all their political measures cor- ruption, 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...' Our ancestors: knew how to prove a cons nee to. rotiies most wisely. *. ” XXXVITI. And when Scipio had ia 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 panegyrie on our’ commonwealth of Rome: exclusively; though Leelius requested your views not only of the govern- ment of our own state, but of the policy of states:in general.. I have not, therefore, yet sufficiently learned from your dis- course, with respect to that: mixed: form of government you most approve, by what discipline, moral:and legal, we may be» best: able to. aomsepeens neem maintain. it.
344 ON THE COMMONWEALTH, . XXXIX. Africanus replied: I think that we shall soon find an occasion better adapted to the discussion you have pro- posed, 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 Leelius. 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 consti- tution 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...
2. Pa which I also am searching for, and which I am anxious to arrive at.
_ Lelius.—You mean the model that would be approved by the truly accomplished politician?
Scipio.—The same, Leelius.—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 un- sightly elephant, can guide and rule the monster, and turn him whichever way he likes by a slight admonition, without any actual exertion.
Lelius.—I recollect, and when I was yout lieutenant, I often saw one of these drivers.
Scipio.—Thus an Indian or Carthaginian regulates one of ' A great many pages are missing here, OS ee ee ee et fee ON THE COMMONWEALTH, 345 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, when- ever it can accomplish it, which indeed is seldom. It is neces- sary to hold in with a strong hand that ferocious' * * KLie*# * * * {beast, denomi- nated the mob, which thirsts after blood] to such a degree that it can scarcely be sated with the most hideous massacres 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.
[Lhe next paragraph, “‘ Esse autem angores,” 5¢., is wholly unintelli- gible 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 ently 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.?.
XLII...can be said.
Then Lelius 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 splen- dour of his talents and enterprises, a living mirror to hig countrymen. For as in flutes and harps, and in all vocal performances, a certain unison and harmony must be pre- served amid the distinctive tones, which cannot be broken or violated without offending experienced ears; and as this con- 1 Several pages are lost here; the passage in brackets is found in onius under the word “ exulto.”
* This and other chapters, printed in smaller type, are generally pre- sumed to be of doubtful authenticity, 346 ON THE COMMONWEALTH.
cord 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 common- . wealth, being always accompanied by justice and equity..
XLII. And after this, when Scipio had discussed with consider: able breadth of principle and felicity of illustration, the great ad- vantage 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.
0.2 31 Ee 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 considera- tion—we will defer till.to-morrow.. When they had.all agreed’ to this, the debate of the day was closed, ON THE COMMONWEALTH. 347 INTRODUCTION TO THE THIRD BOOK, BY THE ORIGINAL. TRANSLATOR.
Cicrro here enters on the grand. question. of Political Justice, and endeavours to evince throughout the absolute verity of that inesti- mable proverb—“ Honesty is the best policy”—in all public, as well as in all private affairs. St. Augustin, in his “ City of God,” has given _ the following analysis of this magnificent disquisition:— “Tn 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 him- self; 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 endeavours to show, by plausible examples and specious dialectics, that injustice is as useful to a statesman as justice would be injurious. Then Leelius, 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 con- clusion from. the preceding arguments,—that the Commonwealth is the common welfare, wheneyer 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 aris- _ tocracy 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 cam 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 longera community associated by a sense of right - and utility, according’to the definition.”—Aug. Civ. Det. 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 348 ON THE COMMONWEALTH, BOOK Ii.
I * * * * *1! Qicero, in the the third book of his treatise “On a Commonwealth” says that nature has treated man less like 2 mother than a step-dame, for she has cast him into mortal life with a body naked, fragile, and infirm; and with a mind agitated by troubles, depressed by fears, broken by labours, and exposed to passions. In this mind, however, there lies hid, and as it were buried, a certain divine spark of genius and intellect.
Though man is born a frail and powerless being, never- theless he is safe from all animals destitute of voice; and at the same time those other animals of greater strength, although they bravely endure the violence of weather, cannot be safe from man, And the result is, that reason does more for man than nature does for brutes; since, in the latter, neither the greatness of their strength, nor the firmness of their bodies, can save them from being oppressed by us, and made subject tO OU Dower, a's sae Plato returned thanks to nature that he had been born Ne. ee ee eo alding our slowness by carriages, and when it had taught men to utter the elementary and con- fused sounds of unpolished expression, articulated and dis- tinguished them into their proper classes, and, as their appropriate signs, attached certain words to certain things, and thus associated, by the most delightful bond of speech, the once divided races of men.
_ And by a similar intelligence, the inflections of the voice, which appeared infinite, are, by the discovery of a few alpha- betic characters, all designated and expressed; by which we maintain converse with our absent friends, by which also indications of our wishes, and monuments of past events are preserved. Then came the use of numbers—a thing necessary to human life, and at the same time immutable and eternal; 1 The beginning of this book is lost. The two first sfatigtaphs come, the one from St. Augustin, the other from Lactantius, ON THE COMMONWEALTH. 349 a science which first urged us to raise our views to heaven, and not gaze without an object on the motions of the stars, and the distribution of days and nights.
Ill...1 [Then appeared the sages of philosophy], whose minds took a higher flight, and who were able to con- ceive and to execute designs worthy of the gifts of the gods. Wherefore let those men who have left us sublime essays on the principles of living be regarded as great men— which indeed they are—as learned men, as masters of truth and virtue; provided that these principles of civil govern- ment, this system of governing people—whether it be a thing discovered by men who have lived amid a variety of political events, or one discussed amid their opportunities of literary tranquillity—is remembered to be, as indeed it is, a thing by no means to be despised, being one which causes in first-rate minds, as we not unfrequently see, an incredible and almost divine virtue. And when to these high faculties of soul, received from nature, and expanded by social institutions, a politician adds learning and extensive information concerning things in general, like those illustrious personages who conduct the dialogue in the present treatise, none will refuse to confess the superiority of such persons to all others; for, in fact, what can be more admirable than the study and practice of the grand affairs of state, united to a literary taste, and a familiarity with the liberal arts? or what can we imagine more perfect than a Scipio, a Lelius, or a Philus, who, not to omit anything which belonged to the most perfect excellence of the greatest men, joined to the examples of our ancestors and the traditions of our countrymen the. foreign philosophy of Socrates?
Wherefore, he who had both the desire and the power to acquaint himself thoroughly both with the customs and the learning of his ancestors, appears to me to have attained to the very highest glory and honour. But if we cannot combine both, and are compelled to select one of these two paths of wisdom, though to some people the tranquil life spent in the research of literature and arts may appear to be the most happy and delectable; yet, doubtless, the science of politics is more laudable and illustrious, for in this political field of 1 Eight or nine pages are lost here, 350 ON “THE COMMONWEALTH.
exertion our greatest men have reaped their honours, like the invincible Curius— Whom neither gold nor iron could subdue.
Ty. * * ** ‘that wisdom existed still. There existed this general difference between these two classes, that among the one, the development of the principles of nature is the subject of their study and eloquence; and among the other, national laws and institutions form the principal topics of investigation.
In honour of our country, we may assert that she has pro- duced within herself a great number, ‘I will not say, ‘of sages, (since philosophy is so jealous of this name,) but of men worthy of the highest celebrity, because by them the precepts and discoveries of the sages have been carried:out into actual practice. And,moreover, though there have existed;and still do exist, many great and glorious empires, yet since the noblest master-piece of genius in the world is the establishment of a state and commonwealth ‘which shall be a lasting one, even if we reckon but a single legislator for each empire, the number of these excellent men will appear ‘very numerous. To be convinced of this, we have only to turn our eyes ‘on any nation of Italy, Latium, the Sabines, ‘the Volscians, the Samnites, or the Etrurians, and then direct our attention to that mighty nation of the Greeks, and ane yo the Assyrians, Persians, and Carthaginians, and * * = Vy. * * * [Scipio and his friends rele sana Scipio spoke as follows:—In our last conversation, I promised to prove that honesty is the best policy in all -states and com- monwealths whatsoever. But if I am to ‘plead in favour of strict honesty and justice in all public affairs, no less than in private, I must request Philus, or some one else, to take wp the advocacy of the other side; the truth will then become more manifest, from ‘the collision «of opposite arguments, as we see every day exemplified at ‘the Bar. | And Philus replied: In good truth you have ‘allotted me a very creditable cause, when “you wish me to undertake the defence of ‘vice.
Perhaps, said Leelius, you are afraid, lest, in reproducmg the ordinary objections made to justice in’ politics, ‘you should seem to express your own sentiments; though you are univer- 1 Here six pages:are lost. 2 Here twelve pages are missing.
ON THE COMMONWEALTH. 351 sally respected as an almost unique example of the ancient probity and good faith; noris it unknown how familiar you are with ‘the lawyer-like habit of disputing on both sides of a question, because you think that this is the best way of getting at the truth.
And Philus said.: Very well; I obey you, and wilfully with my eyes open, I will undertake this dirty business:; because, since those who seek for gold do not flinch at the sight of the mud, ‘so we who are searching for justice, which is far:‘more precious than gold, are bound to shrink from no annoyance. And I wish, as I am about to make use of the antagonist arguments.of a foreigner, I:might also employ a foreign lan- guage. The pleas, therefore, now to be urged by -Lucius Furius Philus, are those [once employed iby] the Greek Car- neades, a man who was accustomed to express whatever fserved his turn]. * * * * *? Let it'be understood, therefore, that I by no means express my own sentiments, but those of Carneades, in order that you may refute this philosopher, who was wont to turn the best.causes into joke, through the mere wantonness of wit.
VI. He was a philosopher of the Academic School, and if any one is ignorant of his great power, and eloquence, ‘and acuteness in arguing, he:may learn it from the mention made of him by Cicero:or by Lucilius, when Neptune, discoursing ‘on a very difficult subject, declares that it cannot be-explained, not even if hell were to:restore 1“We have been obliged to insert two or three of these sentences between brackets, which are not found in the original, for the sake of showing the drift of the arguments of Philus. He himself was fully convinced that justice and morality were of eternal and immutable obligation, and that the best interests of all beings lie in their perpetual development and application. This eternity of Justice is: beautifully illustrated by Mon- tesquieu. “Long,” says:he, “before positive laws were instituted, the moral relations of justice were absolute and universal. To say that there were no justice.or injustice, but that which depends on the injunctions or prohibitions of positive laws, is to say that the radii-which spring from a centre, are not equal till we have formed a circle to illustrate the proposition. We must, therefore, acknowledge that the relations of equity were antecedent to the positive laws which corroborated ‘them:” But though ‘Philus was fully convinced ofthis, in order to give his friends Scipio and Lelius an opportunity of proving it, he frankly brings forward every argument for injustice that-sophistry had-ever cast in the teeth of reason.—By the original Translator.
2 Here four pages are missing. The following sentence is preserved in Nonius.
352 ON THE COMMONWEALTH, Carneades himself for the purpose. This philosopher, having been sent by the Athenians to Rome as an ambassador, discussed the subject of justice very amply in the hearing of Galba and Cato the censor, who were the greatest orators of the day. And the next day he overturned all his arguments by others of a contrary tendency, and disparaged justice, which the day before he had extolled; speak- ing not indeed with the gravity of a philosopher whose wisdom ought to be steady, and whose opinions unchangeable, but in a kind of rhetorical exercise of arguing on each side—a practice which he was accustomed to adopt, in i, to be able to refute others who were asserting anything. The arguments by which he disparaged pice are mentioned by Lucius Furius in Cicero; I suppose, since 1e was discussing the Commonwealth, in order to introduce a defence and panegyric of that quality without which he did not think a Com- monwealth could be administered. But Carneades, in order to refute Aristotle and Plato, the advocates of justice, collected in his first argument everything that was in the habit of being advanced on behalf of justice, in order afterwards to be able to overturn it, as he did., ) VII. Many philosophers indeed, and especially Plato and Aristotle, have spoken a great deal of justice, inculcating that virtue, and extolling it with the highest praise, as giving to every one what belongs to him, as preserving equity in all thimgs, and urging that while the other virtues are as it were silent and shut up, justice is the only one which is not absorbed in considerations of self-interest, and which is not secret, but finds its whole field for exercise out of doors, and is desirous of doing good and serving as many people as possible; as if, forsooth, justice ought to exist in judges only, and in men invested with a certain authority, and not in every one! But there is no one, not even a man of the lowest class, or a beggar, who is destitute of opportunities of displaying justice. But because these philosophers knew not what its essence was, or whence it pro- ceeded, or what its employment was, they attributed that first of all virtues, which is the common good of all men, to a few only, and asserted that it aimed at no advantage of its own, but was anxious only for that of others. So it was well that Carneades, a man of | the greatest genius and acuteness, refuted their assertions, and over- threw that justice which had no firm foundation; not because he thought justice itself deserving of blame, but in order to show that those its defenders had brought forward no trustworthy or strong arguments in its behalf. avo ~ Justice looks out of doors and is prominent and conspicuous in its whole essence. | Which virtue, beyond all others, wholly devotes and dedicates itself to the advantage of others, | VIII * * * * Both to discover and maintain. While ON THE COMMONWEALTH. 353 the other, Aristotle, has filled four large volumes with a dis- cussion on abstract justice. For I didnot expect anything grand or magnificent from Chrysippus, who, after his usual fashion, examines everything rather by the signification of words, than the reality of things. But it was surely worthy of those heroes of philosophy, ‘to ennoble by their genius a virtue so eminently beneficent and liberal, which everywhere exalts the social interests above the selfish; and teaches us to love others rather than ourselves. It was worthy of their genius, we say, to elevate this virtue to a divine throne, not far from that of Wisdom. And certainly they neither wanted the will to accomplish this; for what else could be the cause of their writing on the subject, or what could have been their design? nor the genius, in which they excelled all men. But the weakness of their cause was too great for either their intention and their eloquence to make it popular. In fact, this justice on which we reason is a civil ‘right, but no natural one; for if it were natural and universal, then justice and injustice would be recognised similarly by all men, just as the heat and cold, sweetness and bitterness.
IX. Now if any one, carried in that chariot of winged serpents, of which the poet Pacuvius makes mention, could take his flight over all nations and cities, and accurately observe their proceedings, he would see that the sense of justice and right varies in different regions. In the first place, he would behold among the unchangeable people of Egypt, which preserves in its archives the memory of so many ages and events, a bull adored as a deity, under the name of Apis, and a multitude of other monsters, and all kinds of animals admitted by the same nation into the number of the gods.
In the next place, he would see in Greece, as among our- selves, magnificent temples consecrated by images in human form, which the Persians regarded as impious; and it is affirmed that the sole motive of Xerxes for commanding the confla- gration of the Athenian temples, was the belief that it was a superstitious sacrilege to keep confined within narrow walls the gods, whose proper home was the entire universe. But afterwards Philip, in his hostile projects against the Persians, and Alexander, who carried them into execution, alleged this plea for war, that they were desirous to avenge the temples DE NAT. ETC, AA 354 ON THE COMMONWEALTH. ~ of Greece, which the Greeks had thought proper never to rebuild, that this monument of the impiety of the Persians might always remain before the eyes of their posterity.
How many, such as the inhabitants of Taurica along the Euxine Sea—as the king of Egypt, Busiris—as the Gauls and the Carthaginians—have thought it exceedingly pious and agreeable to the gods to sacrifice men! And, besides, the customs of life are so various, that the Cretans and A®tolians regard robbery as honourable. And the Lacedeemonians say that their territory extends to all places which they can touch with a lance. The Athenians hada custom of swearing by a public proclamation, that all the lands which produced olives and corn were their own. The Gauls consider it a base employment to raise corn by agricultural labour, and go with arms in their hands, and mow down the harvests of neighbouring peoples. But we ourselves, the most equitable of all nations, who, in order to raise the value of our vines and olives, do not permit the races beyond the Alps to culti- vate either vineyards or oliveyards, are said in this matter to act with prudence, but not with justice. You see, then, that wisdom and policy are not always the same as equity. And Lycurgus, that famous inventor of a most admirable jurisprudence, and most wholesome laws, gave the lands of’ the rich to be cultivated by the common people, who were reduced to slavery. jie - X&. If I were to describe the diverse kinds of laws, in- stitutions, manners, and customs, not only as they vary in the numerous nations, but. as they vary likewise in single cities—in this one of ours, for example—I could prove that they have had a thousand revolutions. For instance, that eminent expositor of our laws who sits in the present com- pany—lI mean Manilius—if you were to consult him relative to the legacies and inheritances of women, he would tell you that the present law is quite different from that he was accustomed to plead in his youth, before the Voconian enactment came into force—an edict which was passed in favour of the interests of the men, but which is evidently full of injustice with re- gard to women. For why should a woman be disabled from inheriting property? Why can a vestal virgin become an. heir, while her mother cannot? And why, admitting that it is necessary to set some limit to the wealth of women, should ON THE COMMONWEALTH. 355 Crassus’ daughter, if she be his only child, inherit thousands without offending the law, while my angie can any re- ceive a small share in a bequest?’ * XI. * * * [If this justice were natural, innate, and universal, all men would admit the same] law and right, and the same men would not enact different laws at different times. If a just man and a virtuous man is bound to obey the laws, I ask, what laws do you mean? Do you intend all the laws indifferently? - -But neither does virtue permit this inconstancy in moral obligation, nor is such a variation com- patible with natural conscience. The laws are, therefore, based not on our sense of justice, but on our fear of punish- ment. There is, therefore, no natural justice; and hence it follows that men cannot be just by nature.