An extended survey of Montesquieu’s works and selections from the most famous, notably Persian Letters and Spirit of the Laws.
- Survey
Rome fell because wealth became despised by the populace, so the patricians ceded their privileges in hopes of retaining access to power
More states have perished from corruption of moeurs than lawbreaking
Whenever in a republic all is tranquil, the state is no longer free. True harmony includes dissonance
Spirit
Solon divided the classes not to determine eligibility to vote but to hold office
In a tyranny, religion is the depository of moeurs and fundamental laws because the judiciary is unreliable
In monarchies, free speech is not on behalf of truth but because candor indicates power
Since everything human must end, so virtuous government must end, usually when the legislature becomes more corrupt than the executive. In a democracy, first comes corruption, then the laws are no longer executed. Once principles are corrupted, even good laws work against the state. Corrupt republics rarely do great things: only a people with simple moeurs establish societies, cities, laws.
In a democracy, power is the chief characteristic of the people; liberty is its effect, but not the source of power. Liberty is tranquility derived from personal security. However, the greater the apparent advantages of liberty, the nearer the republic is to losing it. First comes the petty tyrants, then the single dictator.
True equality is far from extreme equality. True equality is not that everyone or no one commands; but that we command or obey only equals. Citizens whose condition is so weak may be considered to have no will of their own: they are incapable of taking part in the execution of society’s ends.
Republics succeed in small geographies. In large ones, the state’s resources corrupt officeholders: the public good recedes from view. Sparta persisted because its sole end was liberty.
Harrington explore how far a state’s constitution may carry liberty, but forgot liberty’s essence. As Tacitus observed, it’s extraordinary that corrupt Roman conquerors led Germanic barbarians to solidify those moeurs which led to English constitutionalism.
There are two types of tyranny, the real and violent, and tyranny of opinion, when those who govern institute things contrary to the nation’s moeurs.
Political vices are not necessarily moral vices and vice versa, a reasonwhy laws against the spirit of society are tenuous. Means exist for preventing crimes (penalties), and can serve to change moeurs. To assert that laws or religion do not always restrain society is to overlook that frequently they do. Civility is superior to politeness: the former prevents us from displaying our own vices. The more people in a nation, the more evident and necessary are both.