BOOK V - CHAPTER VIII

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_ We are now to consider upon what the preservation of governments in
general and of each state in particular depends; and, in the first
place, it is evident that if we are right in the causes we have
assigned for their destruction, we know also the means of their
preservation; for things contrary produce contraries: but destruction
and preservation are contrary to each other. In well-tempered
governments it requires as much care as anything whatsoever, that
nothing be done contrary to law: and this ought chiefly to be attended
to in matters of small consequence; for an illegality that approaches
insensibly, approaches secretly, as in a family small expenses
continually repeated consume a man's income; for the understanding is
deceived thereby, as by this false argument; if every part is little,
then the whole is little: now, this in one sense is true, in another
is false, for the whole and all the parts together are large, though
made up of small parts. The first therefore of anything is what the
state ought to guard against. In the next place, no credit ought to be
given to those who endeavour to deceive the people with false
pretences; for they will be [1308a] confuted by facts. The different
ways in which they will attempt to do this have been already
mentioned. You may often perceive both aristocracies and oligarchies
continuing firm, not from the stability of their forms of government,
but from the wise conduct of the magistrates, both towards those who
have a part in the management of public affairs, and those also who
have not: towards those who have not, by never injuring them; and also
introducing those who are of most consequence amongst them into
office; nor disgracing those who are desirous of honour; or
encroaching on the property of individuals; towards those who have, by
behaving to each other upon an equality; for that equality which the
favourers of a democracy desire to have established in the state is
not only just, but convenient also, amongst those who are of the same
rank: for which reason, if the administration is in the hands of many,
those rules which are established in democracies will be very useful;
as to let no one continue in office longer than six months: that all
those who are of the same rank may have their turn; for between these
there is a sort of democracy: for which reason demagogues are most
likely to arise up amongst them, as we have already mentioned:
besides, by this means both aristocracies and democracies will be the
less liable to be corrupted into dynasties, because it will not be so
easy for those who are magistrates for a little to do as much mischief
as they could in a long time: for it is from hence that tyrannies
arise in democracies and oligarchies; for either those who are most
powerful in each state establish a tyranny, as the demagogues in the
one, the dynasties in the other, or the chief magistrates who have
been long in power. Governments are sometimes preserved not only by
having the means of their corruption at a great distance, but also by
its being very near them; for those who are alarmed at some impending
evil keep a stricter hand over the state; for which reason it is
necessary for those who have the guardianship of the constitution to
be able to awaken the fears of the people, that they may preserve it,
and not like a night-guard to be remiss in protecting the state, but
to make the distant danger appear at hand. Great care ought also to be
used to endeavour to restrain the quarrels and disputes of the nobles
by laws, as well as to prevent those who are not already engaged in
them from taking a part therein; for to perceive an evil at its very
first approach is not the lot of every one, but of the politician. To
prevent any alteration taking place in an oligarchy or free state on
account of the census, if that happens to continue the same while the
quantity of money is increased, it will be useful to take a general
account of the whole amount of it in former times, to compare it with
the present, and to do this every year in those cities where the
census is yearly, [1308b] in larger communities once in three or five
years; and if the whole should be found much larger or much less than
it was at the time when the census was first established in the state,
let there be a law either to extend or contract it, doing both these
according to its increase or decrease; if it increases making the
census larger, if it decreases smaller: and if this latter is not done
in oligarchies and free states, you will have a dynasty arise in the
one, an oligarchy in the other: if the former is not, free states will
be changed into democracies, and oligarchies into free states or
democracies. It is a general maxim in democracies, oligarchies,
monarchies, and indeed in all governments, not to let any one acquire
a rank far superior to the rest of the community, but rather to
endeavour to confer moderate honours for a continuance than great ones
for a short time; for these latter spoil men, for it is not every one
who can bear prosperity: but if this rule is not observed, let not
those honours which were conferred all at once be all at once taken
away, but rather by degrees. But, above all things, let this
regulation be made by the law, that no one shall have too much power,
either by means of his fortune or friends; but if he has, for his
excess therein, let it be contrived that he shall quit the country.
Now, as many persons promote innovations, that they may enjoy their
own particular manner of living, there ought to be a particular
officer to inspect the manners of every one, and see that these are
not contrary to the genius of the state in which he lives, whether it
may be an oligarchy, a democracy, or any other form of government;
and, for the same reason, those should be guarded against who are most
prosperous in the city: the means of doing which is by appointing
those who are otherwise to the business and the offices of the state.
I mean, to oppose men of account to the common people, the poor to the
rich, and to blend both these into one body, and to increase the
numbers of those who are in the middle rank; and this will prevent
those seditions which arise from an inequality of condition. But above
all, in every state it is necessary, both by the laws and every other
method possible, to prevent those who are employed by the public from
being venal, and this particularly in an oligarchy; for then the
people will not be so much displeased from seeing themselves excluded
from a share in the government (nay, they will rather be glad to have
leisure to attend their private affairs) as at suspecting that the
officers of the state steal the public money, then indeed they are
afflicted with double concern, both because they are deprived of the
honours of the state, and pillaged by those who enjoy them. There is
one method of blending together a democracy and an aristocracy,
[1309a] if office brought no profit; by which means both the rich and
the poor will enjoy what they desire; for to admit all to a share in
the government is democratical; that the rich should be in office is
aristocratical. This must be done by letting no public employment
whatsoever be attended with any emolument; for the poor will not
desire to be in office when they can get nothing by it, but had rather
attend to their own affairs: but the rich will choose it, as they want
nothing of the community. Thus the poor will increase their fortunes
by being wholly employed in their own concerns; and the principal part
of the people will not be governed by the lower sort. To prevent the
exchequer from being defrauded, let all public money be delivered out
openly in the face of the whole city, and let copies of the accounts
be deposited in the different wards tribes, and divisions. But, as the
magistrates are to execute their offices without any advantages, the
law ought to provide proper honours for those who execute them well.
In democracies also it is necessary that the rich should be protected,
by not permitting their lands to be divided, nor even the produce of
them, which in some states is done unperceivably. It would be also
better if the people would prevent them when they offer to exhibit a
number of unnecessary and yet expensive public entertainments of
plays, music, processions, and the like. In an oligarchy it is
necessary to take great care of the poor, and allot them public
employments which are gainful; and, if any of the rich insult them, to
let their punishment be severer than if they insulted one of their own
rank; and to let estates pass by affinity, and not gift: nor to permit
any person to have more than one; for by this means property will be
more equally divided, and the greater part of the poor get into better
circumstances. It is also serviceable in a democracy and an oligarchy
to allot those who take no part in public affairs an equality or a
preference in other things; the rich in a democracy, to the poor in an
oligarchy: but still all the principal offices in the state to be
filled only by those who are best qualified to discharge them. _

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