Men Lived Like Fishes; The Great Ones

Fruits Are Always Of The Same Nature With The Seeds And Roots From Which They Come, And Trees Are Known By The Fruits They Bear: As A Man Begets A Man, And A Beast A Beast, That Society Of Men Which Constitutes A Government Upon The Foundation Of Justice, Virtue, And The Common Good, Will Always Have Men To Promote Those Ends; And That Which Intends The Advancement Of One Man's Desire And Vanity, Will Abound In Those That Will Foment Them.

[l]iberty Cannot Be Preserved, If The Manners Of The People Are Corrupted . . .

Everyone Sees They Cannot Well Live Asunder, Nor Many Together, Without Some Rule To Which All Must Submit.

Machiavel, Discoursing On These Matters, Finds Virtue To Be So Essentially Necessary To The Establishment And Preservation Of Liberty, That He Thinks It Impossible For A Corrupted People To Set Up A Good Government, Or For A Tyranny To Be Introduced If They Be Virtuous; And Makes This Conclusion, 'that Where The Matter (that Is, The Body Of The People) Is Not Corrupted, Tumults And Disorders Do Not Hurt; And Where It Is Corrupted, Good Laws Do No Good:' Which Being Confirmed By Reason And Experience, I Think No Wise Man Has Ever Contradicted Him.

There May Be A Hundred Thousand Men In An Army, Who Are All Equally Free; But They Only Are Naturally Most Fit To Be Commanders Or Leaders, Who Most Excel In The Virtues Required For The Right Performance Of Those Offices.