CHAPTER II. Of the various kinds of Government; and to which of them
the Roman Commonwealth belonged.
I forego all discussion concerning those cities which at the outset have
been dependent upon others, and shall speak only of those which from
their earliest beginnings have stood entirely clear of all foreign
control, being governed from the first as pleased themselves, whether as
republics or as princedoms.
These as they have had different origins, so likewise have had different
laws and institutions. For to some at their very first commencement, or
not long after, laws have been given by a single legislator, and all at
one time; like those given by Lycurgus to the Spartans; while to others
they have been given at different times, as need rose or accident
determined; as in the case of Rome. That republic, indeed, may be called
happy, whose lot has been to have a founder so prudent as to provide for
it laws under which it can continue to live securely, without need to
amend them; as we find Sparta preserving hers for eight hundred years,
without deterioration and without any dangerous disturbance. On the
other hand, some measure of unhappiness attaches to the State which,
not having yielded itself once for all into the hands of a single wise
legislator, is obliged to recast its institutions for itself; and of
such States, by far the most unhappy is that which is furthest removed
from a sound system of government, by which I mean that its institutions
lie wholly outside the path which might lead it to a true and perfect
end. For it is scarcely possible that a State in this position can ever,
by any chance, set itself to rights, whereas another whose institutions
are imperfect, if it have made a good beginning and such as admits of
its amendment, may in the course of events arrive at perfection. It is
certain, however, that such States can never be reformed without
great risk; for, as a rule, men will accept no new law altering the
institutions of their State, unless the necessity for such a change be
demonstrated; and since this necessity cannot arise without danger,
the State may easily be overthrown before the new order of things is
established. In proof whereof we may instance the republic of Florence,
which was reformed in the year 1502, in consequence of the affair of
Arezzo, but was ruined in 1512, in consequence of the affair of Prato.
Desiring, therefore, to discuss the nature of the government of Rome,
and to ascertain the accidental circumstances which brought it to its
perfection, I say, as has been said before by many who have written of
Governments, that of these there are three forms, known by the names
Monarchy, Aristocracy, and Democracy, and that those who give its
institutions to a State have recourse to one or other of these three,
according as it suits their purpose. Other, and, as many have thought,
wiser teachers, will have it, that there are altogether six forms
of government, three of them utterly bad, the other three good in
themselves, but so readily corrupted that they too are apt to become
hurtful. The good are the three above named; the bad, three others
dependent upon these, and each so like that to which it is related,
that it is easy to pass imperceptibly from the one to the other. For a
Monarchy readily becomes a Tyranny, an Aristocracy an Oligarchy, while a
Democracy tends to degenerate into Anarchy. So that if the founder of a
State should establish any one of these three forms of Government, he
establishes it for a short time only, since no precaution he may take
can prevent it from sliding into its contrary, by reason of the close
resemblance which, in this case, the virtue bears to the vice.
These diversities in the form of Government spring up among men by
chance. For in the beginning of the world, its inhabitants, being few
in number, for a time lived scattered after the fashion of beasts; but
afterwards, as they increased and multiplied, gathered themselves into
societies, and, the better to protect themselves, began to seek who
among them was the strongest and of the highest courage, to whom, making
him their head, they tendered obedience. Next arose the knowledge of
such things as are honourable and good, as opposed to those which are
bad and shameful. For observing that when a man wronged his benefactor,
hatred was universally felt for the one and sympathy for the other, and
that the ungrateful were blamed, while those who showed gratitude were
honoured, and reflecting that the wrongs they saw done to others might
be done to themselves, to escape these they resorted to making laws and
fixing punishments against any who should transgress them; and in this
way grew the recognition of Justice. Whence it came that afterwards, in
choosing their rulers, men no longer looked about for the strongest, but
for him who was the most prudent and the most just.
But, presently, when sovereignty grew to be hereditary and no longer
elective, hereditary sovereigns began to degenerate from their
ancestors, and, quitting worthy courses, took up the notion that princes
had nothing to do but to surpass the rest of the world in sumptuous
display and wantonness, and whatever else ministers to pleasure so that
the prince coming to be hated, and therefore to feel fear, and passing
from fear to infliction of injuries, a tyranny soon sprang up.
Forthwith there began movements to overthrow the prince, and plots and
conspiracies against him undertaken not by those who were weak, or
afraid for themselves, but by such as being conspicuous for their birth,
courage, wealth, and station, could not tolerate the shameful life of
the tyrant. The multitude, following the lead of these powerful men,
took up arms against the prince and, he being got rid of, obeyed these
others as their liberators; who, on their part, holding in hatred the
name of sole ruler, formed themselves into a government and at first,
while the recollection of past tyranny was still fresh, observed the
laws they themselves made, and postponing personal advantage to the
common welfare, administered affairs both publicly and privately with
the utmost diligence and zeal. But this government passing, afterwards,
to their descendants who, never having been taught in the school of
Adversity, knew nothing of the vicissitudes of Fortune, these not
choosing to rest content with mere civil equality, but abandoning
themselves to avarice, ambition, and lust, converted, without respect to
civil rights what had been a government of the best into a government of
the few; and so very soon met with the same fate as the tyrant.
For the multitude loathing its rulers, lent itself to any who ventured,
in whatever way, to attack them; when some one man speedily arose who
with the aid of the people overthrew them. But the recollection of the
tyrant and of the wrongs suffered at his hands being still fresh in
the minds of the people, who therefore felt no desire to restore
the monarchy, they had recourse to a popular government, which they
established on such a footing that neither king nor nobles had any place
in it. And because all governments inspire respect at the first, this
government also lasted for a while, but not for long, and seldom after
the generation which brought it into existence had died out. For,
suddenly, liberty passed into license, wherein neither private worth nor
public authority was respected, but, every one living as he liked, a
thousand wrongs were done daily. Whereupon, whether driven by necessity,
or on the suggestion of some wiser man among them and to escape anarchy,
the people reverted to a monarchy, from which, step by step, in the
manner and for the causes already assigned, they came round once more to
license. For this is the circle revolving within which all States are
and have been governed; although in the same State the same forms of
Government rarely repeat themselves, because hardly any State can have
such vitality as to pass through such a cycle more than once, and still
together. For it may be expected that in some sea of disaster, when a
State must always be wanting prudent counsels and in strength, it will
become subject to some neighbouring and better-governed State; though
assuming this not to happen, it might well pass for an indefinite period
from one of these forms of government to another.
I say, then, that all these six forms of government are pernicious -- the
three good kinds, from their brief duration the three bad, from their
inherent badness. Wise legislators therefore, knowing these defects, and
avoiding each of these forms in its simplicity, have made choice of a
form which shares in the qualities of all the first three, and which
they judge to be more stable and lasting than any of these separately.
For where we have a monarchy, an aristocracy, and a democracy existing
together in the same city, each of the three serves as a check upon the
other.
Among those who have earned special praise by devising a constitution of
this nature, was Lycurgus, who so framed the laws of Sparta as to assign
their proper functions to kings, nobles, and commons; and in this way
established a government, which, to his great glory and to the peace and
tranquility of his country, lasted for more than eight hundred years.
The contrary, however, happened in the case of Solon; who by the turn he
gave to the institutions of Athens, created there a purely democratic
government, of such brief duration, that I himself lived to witness the
beginning of the despotism of Pisistratus. And although, forty years
later, the heirs of Pisistratus were driven out, and Athens recovered
her freedom, nevertheless because she reverted to the same form
government as had been established by Solon, she could maintain it for
only a hundred years more; for though to preserve it, many ordinances
were passed for repressing the ambition of the great and the turbulence
of the people, against which Solon had not provided, still, since
neither the monarchic nor the aristocratic element was given a place in
her constitution, Athens, as compared with Sparta, had but a short life.
But let us now turn to Rome, which city, although she had no Lycurgus to
give her from the first such a constitution as would preserve her long
in freedom, through a series of accidents, caused by the contests
between the commons and the senate, obtained by chance what the
foresight of her founders failed to provide. So that Fortune, if she
bestowed not her first favours on Rome, bestowed her second; because,
although the original institutions of this city were defective, still
they lay not outside the true path which could bring them to perfection.
For Romulus and the other kings made many and good laws, and such as
were not incompatible with freedom; but because they sought to found a
kingdom and not a commonwealth, when the city became free many things
were found wanting which in the interest of liberty it was necessary to
supply, since these kings had not supplied them. And although the
kings of Rome lost their sovereignty, in the manner and for the causes
mentioned above, nevertheless those who drove them out, by at once
creating two consuls to take their place, preserved in Rome the regal
authority while banishing from it the regal throne, so that as both
senate and consuls were included in that republic, it in fact possessed
two of the elements above enumerated, to wit, the monarchic and the
aristocratic.
It then only remained to assign its place to the popular element, and
the Roman nobles growing insolent from causes which shall be noticed
hereafter, the commons against them, when, not to lose the whole of
their power, they were forced to concede a share to the people; while
with the share which remained, the senate and consuls retained so much
authority that they still held their own place in the republic. In this
way the tribunes of the people came to be created, after whose creation
the stability of the State was much augmented, since each the three
forms of government had now its due influence allowed it. And such was
the good fortune of Rome that although her government passed from the
kings to the nobles, and from these to the people, by the steps and for
the reasons noticed above, still the entire authority of the kingly
element was not sacrificed to strengthen the authority of the nobles,
nor were the nobles divested of their authority to bestow it on the
commons; but three, blending together, made up a perfect State; which
perfection, as shall be fully shown in the next two Chapters, was
reached through the dissensions of the commons and the senate.