5.18. 18. Of Rewards conferred by the Sovereign.
In despotic governments, where, as we have already observed, the principal motive of action is
the hope of the conveniences of life, the prince who confers rewards has
nothing to bestow but money. In monarchies, where honour alone
predominates, the prince's rewards would consist only of marks of
distinction, if the distinctions established by honour were not attended
with luxury, which necessarily brings on its wants: the prince therefore
is obliged to confer such honours as lead to wealth. But in a republic
where virtue reigns — a motive self-sufficient, and which excludes all
others — the recompenses of the state consist only of public
attestations of this virtue.
It is a general rule that great rewards in monarchies and republics
are a sign of their decline; because they are a proof of their
principles being corrupted, and that the idea of honour has no longer
the same force in a monarchy, nor the title of citizen the same weight
in a republic.
The very worst Roman emperors were those who were most profuse in
their largesses; for example, Caligula, Claudius, Nero, Otho, Vitellius,
Commodus, Heliogabalus, and Caracalla. The best, as Augustus, Vespasian,
Antoninus Pius, Marcus Aurelius, and Pertinax, were economists. Under
good emperors the state resumed its principles; all other treasures were
supplied by that of honour.
