Chapter 1: About the Subject of This Book

This material is of a great extent. In that mob of ideas which present themselves to my mind, I will be more attentive to the order of matters than to the matters themselves. It's required that I deviate right and left, that I penetrate, that I create day[light] for myself.

Chapter 2: How Far, for the Best Laws, It Is Necessary That Minds Be Prepared

Nothing seemed more unbearable to the Germans (a) than Varus's tribunal. The one which Justinian set up (b) among the Lazi, in order to conduct the trial of their king's murderer, seemed to them a horrible and barbarian thing. Mithridates (c), haranguing against the Romans, reproaches them above all for the formalities (d) of their justice. The Parthians were unable to bear that king who, having been raised in Rome, made himself friendly (e) and accessible to any- and everyone. Liberty itself seemed unbearable to peoples who were accustomed to enjoying it. It is thus that [a] pure air sometimes is noxious for those who have lived in dank climates.

A Venetian named Balby, being at (f) Pegu, was presented to the king. When the latter learned that there was no king in Venice, he made such a great burst of laughter that a cough overcame him and he had much difficulty in speaking to his courtiers. What is the legislator who could propose popular government to such peoples?

Chapter 3: About Tyranny

There are two kinds of tyranny: one real, which consists in the violence of the government; one of opinion, which makes itself felt when they who govern establish things which affront the nation's way of thinking.

Dion says that Augustus intended to cause himself to be called Romulus. But, having learned that the people feared whether he might not wish to make himself king, he changed his mind. The first Romans wanted no king, because they could not endure his authority. The Romans of Augustus's era wanted no king, in order not to bear with his manners. For, although Caesar, the Triumviri, and Augustus were veritable kings, they had preserved the entire exterior of equality, and their private lives contained a kind of contrast with the sumptuousness of contemporary kings.