PREFACE
IF amidst the infinite number of subjects contained in this book
there is anything which, contrary to my expectation, may possibly
offend, I can at least assure the public that it was not inserted with
an ill intention: for I am not naturally of a captious temper. Plato
thanked the gods that he was born in the same age with Socrates: and for
my part I give thanks to the Supreme that I was born a subject of that
government under which I live; and that it is His pleasure I should obey
those whom He has made me love.
I beg one favour of my readers, which I fear will not be granted me;
this is, that they will not judge by a few hours' reading of the labour
of twenty years; that they will approve or condemn the book entire, and
not a few particular phrases. If they would search into the design of
the author, they can do it in no other way so completely as by searching
into the design of the work.
I have first of all considered mankind; and the result of my
thoughts has been, that amidst such an infinite diversity of laws and
manners, they were not solely conducted by the caprice of fancy.
I have laid down the first principles, and have found that the
particular cases follow naturally from them; that the histories of all
nations are only consequences of them; and that every particular law is
connected with another law, or depends on some other of a more general
extent.
When I have been obliged to look back into antiquity, I have
endeavoured to assume the spirit of the ancients, lest I should consider
those things as alike which are really different; and lest I should miss
the difference of those which appear to be alike.
I have not drawn my principles from my prejudices, but from the
nature of things.
Here a great many truths will not appear till we have seen the chain
which connects them with others. The more we enter into particulars, the
more we shall perceive the certainty of the principles on which they are
founded. I have not even given all these particulars, for who could
mention them all without a most insupportable fatigue?
The reader will not here meet with any of those bold flights which
seem to characterise the works of the present age. When things are
examined with never so small a degree of extent, the sallies of
imagination must vanish; these generally arise from the mind's
collecting all its powers to view only one side of the subject, while it
leaves the other unobserved.
I write not to censure anything established in any country
whatsoever. Every nation will here find the reasons on which its maxims
are founded; and this will be the natural inference, that to propose
alterations belongs only to those who are so happy as to be born with a
genius capable of penetrating the entire constitution of a state.
It is not a matter of indifference that the minds of the people be
enlightened. The prejudices of magistrates have arisen from national
prejudice. In a time of ignorance they have committed even the greatest
evils without the least scruple; but in an enlightened age they even
tremble while conferring the greatest blessings. They perceive the
ancient abuses; they see how they must be reformed; but they are
sensible also of the abuses of a reformation. They let the evil
continue, if they fear a worse; they are content with a lesser good, if
they doubt a greater. They examine into the parts, to judge of them in
connection; and they examine all the causes, to discover their different
effects.
Could I but succeed so as to afford new reasons to every man to love
his prince, his country, his laws; new reasons to render him more
sensible in every nation and government of the blessings he enjoys, I
should think myself the most happy of mortals.
Could I but succeed so as to persuade those who command, to increase
their knowledge in what they ought to prescribe; and those who obey, to
find a new pleasure resulting from obedience — I should think myself
the most happy of mortals.
The most happy of mortals should I think myself could I contribute
to make mankind recover from their prejudices. By prejudices I here
mean, not that which renders men ignorant of some particular things, but
whatever renders them ignorant of themselves.
It is in endeavouring to instruct mankind that we are best able to
practise that general virtue which comprehends the love of all. Man,
that flexible being, conforming in society to the thoughts and
impressions of others, is equally capable of knowing his own nature,
whenever it is laid open to his view; and of losing the very sense of
it, when this idea is banished from his mind.
Often have I begun, and as often have I laid aside, this
undertaking. I have a thousand times given the leaves I had written to
the winds:
[1]
I, every day, felt my paternal hands fall.
[2]
I have followed my
object without any fixed plan: I have known neither rules nor
exceptions; I have found the truth, only to lose it again. But when I
once discovered my first principles, everything I sought for appeared;
and in the course of twenty years, I have seen my work begun, growing
up, advancing to maturity, and finished.
If this work meets with success, I shall owe it chiefly to the
grandeur and majesty of the subject. However, I do not think that I have
been totally deficient in point of genius. When I have seen what so many
great men both in France, England, and Germany have said before me, I
have been lost in admiration; but I have not lost my courage: I have
said with Correggio, "And I also am a painter."
[3]
Footnotes
[2]
Ter patriæ cecidere manus.
[3]
Ed io anche son pittore.
