ir turn may tyrannise over the merchants, and they again over all the
workmen of their shops and bazaars.

Over their own servants (for thus they call the slaves, that the word
itself may not be used), who work upon their estates, the nobles are
absolute masters, and may even hang them upon the nearest tree. And here
I cannot but remark how strange it is, first, that any man can remain a
slave rather than die; and secondly, how much stranger it is that any
other man, himself a slave, can be found to hunt down or to hang his
fellow; yet the tyrants never lack executioners. Their castles are
crowded with retainers who wreak their wills upon the defenceless. These
retainers do not wear the brazen bracelet; they are free. Are there,
then, no beggars? Yes, they sit at every corner, and about the gates of
the cities, asking for alms.

Though begging makes a man forfeit to the State, it is only when he has
thews and sinews, and can work. The diseased and aged, the helpless and
feeble, may break the law, and starve by the roadside, because it
profits no one to make them his slaves. And all these things are done in
the name of morality, and for the good of the human race, as they
constantly announce in their councils and parliaments.

There are two reasons why the mercenaries have been called in; first,
because the princes found the great nobles so powerful, and can keep
them in check only by the aid of these foreigners; and secondly, because
the number of the outlaws in the woods has become so great that the
nobles themselves are afraid lest their slaves should revolt, and, with
the aid of the outlaws, overcome them.

Now the mark of a noble is that he can read and write. When the ancients
were scattered, the remnant that was left behind was, for the most part,
the ignorant and the poor. But among them there was here and there a man
who possessed some little education and force of mind. At first there
was no order; but after thirty years or so, after a generation, some
order grew up, and these men, then become aged, were naturally chosen as
leaders. They had, indeed, no actual power then, no guards or armies;
but the common folk, who had no knowledge, came to them for decision of
their disputes, for advice what to do, for the pronouncement of some
form of marriage, for the keeping of some note of property, and to be
united against a mutual danger.

These men in turn taught their children to read and write, wishing that
som