for the executive power being in other hands, he has loſt much of his influence with the people, and can govern very few votes more than his own among the ſenators.
It was the general opinion of ancient nations, that the divinity alone was adequate to the important office of giving laws to men. The Greeks entertained this prejudice throughout all their diſperſions; the Romans cultivated the ſame popular deluſion; and modern nations, in the conſecrations of kings, and in ſeveral ſuperſtitious chimeras of divine rights in princes and nobles, are nearly unanimous in preſerving remnants of it: even the venerable magiſtrates of Amersfort devoutly believe themſelves God's vicegerents. Is it that obedience to the laws can be obtained from mankind in no other manner?—Is the jealouſy of power, and the envy of ſuperiority, ſo ſtrong in all men, that no conſiderations of public or private utility are ſufficient to engage their ſubmiſſion to rules for their own happineſs? Or is the diſpoſition to impoſture ſo prevalent in men of experience, that their private views of ambition and avarice can be accompliſhed only by artifice?—It was a tradition in antiquity that the laws of Crete were dictated to Minos by the inſpiration of Jupiter. This legiſlator, and his brother Rhadamanthus, were both his ſons; once in nine years they went to converſe with their father, to propoſe queſtions concerning the
