Honour is far from being the principle of despotic government:
mankind being here all upon a level, no one person can prefer himself to
another; and as on the other hand they are all slaves, they can give
themselves no sort of preference.
Besides, as honour has its laws and rules, as it knows not how to
submit; as it depends in a great measure on a man's own caprice, and not
on that of another person; it can be found only in countries in which
the constitution is fixed, and where they are governed by settled laws.
How can despotism abide with honour? The one glories in the contempt
of life; and the other is founded on the power of taking it away. How
can honour, on the other hand, bear with despotism? The former has its
fixed rules, and peculiar caprices; but the latter is directed by no
rule, and its own caprices are subversive of all others.
Honour, therefore, a thing unknown in arbitrary governments, some of
which have not even a proper word to express it,
[14]
is the prevailing principle in monarchies; here it gives life to the whole
body politic, to the laws, and even to the virtues themselves.
