§. 224. But it will be said this hypothesis lays a ferment for frequent
rebellion. To which I answer:
First: no more than any other hypothesis. For when the people are made
miserable, and find themselves exposed to the ill usage of arbitrary power, cry
up their governors as much as you will for sons of Jupiter, let them be sacred
and divine, descended or authorised from Heaven; give them out for whom or what
you please, the same will happen. The people generally ill treated, and
contrary to right, will be ready upon any occasion to ease themselves of a
burden that sits heavy upon them. They will wish and seek for the opportunity,
which in the change, weakness, and accidents of human affairs, seldom delays
long to offer itself He must have lived but a little while in the world, who
has not seen examples of this in his time; and he must have read very little
who cannot produce examples of it in all sorts of governments in the world.
