198 A N T I E N T M E T A P H Y S I C S. ■ Book U. 



Having thus fhovvn what is the worft kind of government, the 

 next thing to be confidered is, which is the heft. And 1 have as 

 little doubt upon that point as upon the other; for I fay that mo- 

 narchy is the heft form. It is the government of the univerfe, and 

 it was the firft government upon earth ; for there is nothing more 

 certain, than what the Roman hiftorian, Sallull, tells us, that, m terris 

 id prinmm nomen imperii fuit *. And Polybius has told us the fame 

 thing in his fixth book, where he has given the fame account, that 

 I have given, of the origin of the firft government of Kin^s among 

 inen ; and with both thefe authcrs Cicero, in his third book De Le- 

 gibus, agrees. And as it was the firft government among men fo 

 it is the laft ; and that in which all governments have fooner 

 or huer ended. The government of one man is (a much founded 

 in nature, ihat even in thole conllitutions of which it was no 

 parr, it was uled when the ftate was thought to be in danger. 

 The Roman Commonwealth wjs not, as 1 have faid t, nine 

 years old before they had recourfe to it, and chofe a Defpot 

 under the name of a Didator. This they did upon feveral 

 particular occafions ; and at laft, when their government was 

 fo much corrupred, that the Commonwealth was become a mere 

 name, aJJjadow nvithout a fubftance, which was the faying not only 

 of Julius Caefar, bnt of Cicero, they chofe a perpetual Dictator ; 

 andvvere fo lucky as to pitch upon the beft man among them for 

 that office. But as a great deal of the republican fpirit remained 

 among them, they murdered him, wanting to reftore the republican 

 government. Of this the confequence was no other than what might 

 have been expedled ; for it ended in the total deftrudion of the 

 Commonwealth, and the eftabliftiment of the defpotic government 

 of the Emperors ; which under the firft of them was mild and gen- 

 tle 



* Bell. Catallnar. Cap. 2. 

 t Page . 86. of this Volume. 



