404 GOVERNMENT ix 



liberty, or possessions." Elsewhere ( 4), the state 

 of nature is defined as a state of " perfect freedom," 

 in which men " dispose of their possessions and 

 persons as they think fit " ; and further as a state 

 of equality, 



wherein all the power and jurisdiction is reciprocal, no one 

 having more than another; there being nothing more evident 

 than that creatures of the same species and rank, promiscuously 

 born to all the same advantages of nature, : and the use of the 

 same faculties, should also be equal one amongst another with- 

 out subordination or subjection. 



Again ( 7 ), since the law of nature " willeth 

 the peace and preservation of all mankind," every 

 man has a " right to punish the transgressors of 



1 Yet Locke, of course, knows well enough that children are 

 not born equal and that adults are extremely unequal. All that 

 lie really means is that men have an "equal right to natural 

 freedom," and that is a mere a priori dictum (54-87). The 

 sceptics as to the reality of the state of nature are treated with 

 some contempt ( 14). " It is often asked as a weighty objeet ion. 

 Where are, or ever were there, any such men in a state of mini iv '. 

 To Avhich it may suffice as an answer at present, that since all 

 princes and rulers of independent governments, all through the 

 world, are in a state of nature, it is plain that the world never 

 was, or ever will be, without numbers of men in that state. 

 I have named all governors of independent communities, whether 

 they are or are not in league with others, for it is not 

 compact that puts an end to the state of nature between men, 

 but only this one of agreeing together mutually to enter into 

 one community and make one body politic ; other promises and 

 compacts men may make with one another, and yet still be in 

 the state of nature. The promises and bargains for truck, &c., 

 1 1! 'tween the two men in the desert island mentioned by 

 lasso de la Vega, in his Jfistory of Peru, or between a Swiss and 

 an Indian, in the woods of America, an binding to them though 

 they are perfertly in a state of nature, in reference to one 

 another : for truth and keeping of faith belongs to men as men, 

 and not as members of society." 



