Thy country sought of thee, it sought unjustly,
Against the law of nature, law of nations,
No more thy country, but an impious crew
Of men conspiring to uphold their state
By worse than hostile deeds, violating the ends
For which our country is a name so dear
Not therefore to be obey’d.[1]
Milton, Samson Agonistes (1671)
[1] John Milton, “Samson Agonistes” in John Milton: The Major Works, ed.
Stephen Orgel and Jonathan Goldberg (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991), p.
694 (889-895).
Modern translation, Chapter XXII:
It would be an error to believe that there has never existed anywhere in the world a human authority that is despotic in all its aspects … Even the greatest power is limited in some way. If the Grand Seigneur … were to attempt to impose some new tax, the resulting outcry would be such as to make him observe the limits to which he had not known he was subject. Although the King of Persia may be able to force a son to kill his father …, that same King cannot force his subjects to drink wine. Every nation is dominated by a general spirit, on which its very power is founded. Anything undertaken in defiance of that spirit is a blow against that power, and as such must necessarily come to a stop.[1]
Older version (finished in 1876, following the American Civil War and published
in 1882)
It is an error to suppose that there is any human in the world which is,
in all respects, despotic. There never was and there never will be
such. The most enormous power is always limited on some side. Let
the Grand Seigneur impose a novel tax upon Constantinople, and the general
outcry will immediately disclose limits to his power which he had not
known. A king of Persia may indeed constrain a son to kill his father, or
a father to kill his son; but to compel his subjects to drink wine would be
beyond his power. There is in every nation a general spirit upon which
power itself is founded. When it shocks this spirit, power disturbs its
own foundation, and thus necessarily checks itself.[2]
Original French (published in Amsterdam in 1734, without author's name)
C’est une erreur de croire qu’il y ait dans le monde une autorité humaine, A tous les égards despotique; il n’en a jamais eu, et il n’y en aura jamais. Le pouvoir le plus immense est toujours borné par quelque coin. Que le Grand Seigneur mette un nouvel impôt à Constantinople, un cri général lui fait d’abord trouver des limites qu’il n’avait pas connues. Un roi de Perse peut bien contraindre un fils de tuer son père ou un père de tuer son fils ; mais obliger ses sujets de boire du vin, il ne le peut pas. Il y a, dans chaque nation, un esprit général sur lequel la puissance même est fondée. Quand elle choque cet esprit, elle se choque elle-même, et elle s’arrête nécessairement.[3]
[1] See the topic on “Despotism” in Vol. II of
the Dictionary of the History of Ideas, ed. Philip P. Weiner (New
York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1973), p. 9.
[2] Montesquieu, Considerations of the
Causes of the Grandeur and Decadence of the Romans, tr. Jehu Baker (New
York: D. Appleton and Company, 1882 [Alpha Editions, 2019]), p. 460. Chapter
XXII. Jehu Baker was also a member of the U.S. House of Representatives,
first as Republican, and later as Democrat.
[3] Montesquieu, Considérations sur les
causes de la grandeur des romains et de leur décadence, ed. Irena Montreal, 1873 [Bolton, ON:
Amazon, nd], p. 151. Chapter XXII.
