Page:Thoughts on civil liberty, on licentiousness and faction.djvu/70

We need go no farther into the History of this Republic, for a Discovery of the Causes of its final Ruin. It is true, that an imperfect Semblance of Liberty often appeared, amidst the Factions of succeeding Times: It is true, that Wealth and Luxury contributed to hasten the Fall of Athens: It is true, that Pericles and Alcibiades, in their Turn, while they seemed to polish the Manners, inflamed the Vices of the Populace; and led them on to the certain Destruction of the State. But for the Ruin of this Commonwealth, we need not have Recourse to the Inroads of Wealth or Luxury, as the Causes of its Dissolution. It resembled a beautiful Edifice founded in Sand and Rubbish: Where an uneducated, an unprincipled, a licentious Populace, ruled the State; That State was destined to the convulsive Struggles of Faction while it lived, and then to a speedy Death.