THE THREE FORMS OF GOVERNMENT. 



353 



After arguing at some length oh the advantages of u monarchy, 

 Cicero enumerated the revolutions to which the simple forms of 

 government are continually exposed ; and proceeds in order to exa- 

 mine t those to which a monarchy is subject, And the first is, when a 

 king ceases to be just, oppresses his subjects, and becomes a tyrant, 

 for them he is sure, sooner or later, to be deprived of his sceptre, and 

 hurled from his throne. This is one of the few teuths, which no one 

 has the boldness, or rather the ignorance to dispute ; it is confirmed 

 by history both ancient and modern, sacred and profane ; for whether 

 we consider a Rehoboam, or a Tarquin, a Charles, or a Louis, we in- 

 variably find that oppression by the king, produces rebellion in the 

 subject. 



<f But* this is the first, and most certain revolution in royalty. 

 When a king begins to be unjust, monarchy immediately perishes ; 

 and such a person is a tyrant, the worse form of government though 

 bordering on the best. If the aristocracy has crushed him, the state 

 is then subject to the second of the three kinds of government, and 

 it forms a species of royal, or rather paternal authority, by the union 

 of the principal citizens consulting for the good of the people. If 

 the people unaided, and by themselves, have killed or banished a 

 tyrant, they act with moderation, as long as they preserve the facul- 

 ties of thought arid of reflection, are delighted with the glorious ter- 

 mination of their exploits, and are desirous of preserving that 

 government procured by their own exertions. But if the people have 

 inflicted violence on a just being, or have robbed him of his kingdom; 

 at even, a more frequent occurrence, have tasted the blood of the 

 nobles, and have made the whole state completely subservient to 

 their headsteong passions, be assured that no sea no conflagration - 

 is so terrible, but that it is far easier to master them, than to appease 

 the unbridled licentiousness of a multitude." 



And we cannot be surprised, that p. people long oppressed by 

 slavery, and udacquainted with the sweets of liberty, should after 

 obtaining their freedom, be unable to use it with moderation. Their 

 crimes rest upon the head of the tyrant, who kept them in such 

 abject vassaluge, that the transition from servitude to liberty, pro- 

 duces the most terrible and awful effects. Here Cicero translates a 

 passage from Plato's Republic ; in which is described a pure demo- 

 cracy unrestrained by any authority either human or divine. It is 

 written with that brilliancy of imagination, which is conspicuous in 

 all his works, and which has entitled him to the somewhat anoma- 

 lous designation of the " poetical philosopher." Liberty can scarcely 

 degenerate into such licentiousness as Plato describes ; but after re- 

 flecting upon the French revolution, the assertions of the Grecian 

 philosopher will not appear totally devoid of truth. 



^Thus we again come to the original proposition, that a mixed form 

 of government is the most excellent of all. Cicero, in the next book, 

 gives a masterly delineation of the early history of Rome ; but our 

 limits forbid us to follow him into this part of his subject. 



* Book I. c. 42. 

 M. M. No. 93. 2 Z 



