of judging for themselves!

_Mably_. (He is supposing the laws to be worn out by time and by the
neglect of security, and continues thus):--

"Under these circumstances, we must be convinced that the springs
of Government are relaxed. _Give them_ a new tension (it is the
reader who is addressed), and the evil will be remedied.... Think
lees of punishing the faults than of encouraging the virtues _which
you want_. By this method you will bestow upon _your republic_ the
vigour of youth. Through ignorance of this, a free people has lost
its liberty! But if the evil has made so much way that the ordinary
magistrates are unable to remedy it effectually, _have recourse_ to
an extraordinary magistracy, whose time should be short, and its
power considerable. The imagination of the citizens requires to be
impressed."

In this style he goes on through twenty volumes.

There was a time when, under the influence of teaching like this, which
is the root of classical education, every one was for placing himself
beyond and above mankind, for the sake of arranging, organising, and
instituting it in his own way.

_Condillac_.--"Take upon yourself, my lord, the character of
Lycurgus or of Solon. Before you finish reading this essay, amuse
yourself with giving laws to some wild people in America or in
Africa. Establish these roving men in fixed dwellings; teach them
to keep flocks.... Endeavour to develop the social qualities which
nature has implanted in them.... Make them begin to practise the
duties of humanity.... Cause the pleasures of the passions to
become distasteful to them by punishments, and you will see these
barbarians, with every plan of your legislation, lose a vice and
gain a virtue.

"All these people have had laws. But few among them have been
happy. Why is this? Because legislators have almost always been
ignorant of the object of society, which is, to unite families by a
common interest.

"Impartiality in law consists in two things:--in establishing
equality in the fortunes and in the dignity of the citizens.... In
proportion to the degree of equality established by the laws, the
dearer will they become to every citizen.... How can avarice,
ambition, dissipation, idleness, sloth, envy, hatred, or jealousy,
agitate men who are equal in fortune and dignity, and