Civil Liberty, &c.
67
SECT.IX.
Of the Commonwealth of Rome.
LET us now pass to a Review of the Commonwealth of Rome: In the History and Fate of which, we shall find most abundant Proof of the Truths here laid down, concerning the Power of Manners and Principles, in the Preservation or the Dissolution of public Freedom.
Montesquieu remarks finely, in his Discourse on this Republic, that "more States have perished, thro' a Violation of Manners, than thro' a Violation of Laws[1]. The Reason (though he does not assign it) appears evident on the Principles here given. He who violates established Manners, strikes at the general Foundation; he who violates Law, strikes only at a particular Part of the Superstructure of the State.
- ↑ Grandeur, &c.
