The Social Contract - 13zy

接上：

The same laws cannot be appropriate for all the various provinces, 

which have different customs and are situated in different climates; 

-

while a diversity of law can only engender★产生 conflict and confusion 

among peoples who, having the same leaders and in continual频繁的 

communication,move from one area to another and marry there, never

knowing, as they become subject to other customary laws,

whether their heritage is really theirs. 

-

Talents are hidden,virtues ignored, and vice goes unpunished 

among all the multitude of men, unknown to each other, who are 

gathered together in one place because it is the seat of the 

supreme administration. 

-

The rulers, overburdened by the amount of

business, see nothing for themselves, and their 

clerks文书 govern the state. 

-★

Finally, the measures necessary in order to maintain the central authority, 

which so many of its distant representatives try to evade★逃避 or 

deceive, absorb all the energies of the public officers; 

-★

what remains for the welfare of the people is insufficient★不足的, 

and there is scarcely enough for defence in case of need;

in this way, a body too large for its own constitution declines

and perishes, collapsing under its own weight.

On the other hand, the state must provide itself with a sound

base so as to have some solidity稳固, and withstand经受 both the shocks

that will inevitably come its way, and the efforts that it will be

obliged to make in order not to succumb被压垮: 

-

for all peoples have

a kind of centrifugal离心力 force by which they act upon each other

constantly, tending to increase their size at the expense of their

neighbours, like the vortices漩涡 of Descartes笛卡尔.

-

Thus the weak are in danger of being soon swallowed 

up; and virtually the only way for any one of them to maintain 

itself is to place itself in a kind of equilibrium均衡 with 

the rest, making the pressure more or less the same everywhere.

★★★

A healthy and robust constitution is the first thing to look for; 

and more reliance should be put on the vigour强健 born from good 

government than from the resources furnished by a great area of land.

There have been certain states organized in

such a way that the need to make conquests entered into their

very constitution; 

-

in order to maintain themselves they were

constantly forced to expand. They may perhaps have congratulated 

themselves on this happy necessity, in which, however,

★they could have seen that the time when their greatness

reached its limit would inevitably be the time of their fall.

---Chapter x : The Same Continued---

A POLITICAL body can be measured in two ways: either by the

extent★★范围 of its territory, or by its population; and the most

suitable size for the state depends on the proper relationship

between these two measures.

-★★★

It is men that make a state, and it is the land that feeds men: 

the relationship, then, is that the land should be sufficient 

to provide sustenance食物/养料 for its inhabitants, and that there 

should be as many inhabitants as the land can feed.

If there is too much land, it is burdensome to

guard, it will not be fully cultivated, and some of its produce

will be superfluous; 

-

it will be a direct cause of defensive war. If there is 

not enough land, the state depends, in order to make

up the deficiency不足, on the goodwill of its neighbours, 

which is a direct cause of offensive war.

On the other hand, the territory can be reduced in

coastal沿海的 regions, even when rock and sand render them almost

sterile不毛的, for the reasons that fishing can in large part 

replace the products of the land; 

-

that the population needs to be denser密集的 in order to 

repel pirates; and in addition that it is easier, through

colonization, to relieve the land of a surplus★过剩的 of inhabitants.

★★

Usurpers /ju:'zə:pə/ 篡位者 always foment煽动 or choose times 

of trouble in order to play on public anxiety and so gain

acceptance for harmful laws that the people would 

never adopt with cooler heads. 

What kind of people, then, is best suited for legislation?

-

One which, already united by some bond due either to its 

origins or its interests or to an agreement, has as yet 

not truly submitted屈从 to the yoke束缚 of law; 

-

one whose customs and superstitions迷信 are not

deeply embedded植入/嵌入; 

-

one that has no fear of being overrun泛滥 by a sudden invasion; 

-

that without taking part in its neighbours'

quarrels is able to resist each of them on its own, 

or to repulse one with the help of another(??立法者干这事???).

-

one where each member is known to all, and where 

there is no necessity to inflict on any

man a burden heavier than a man can carry; 

-

one that is neither rich nor poor, but capable of

maintaining itself; finally, one that combines the solidity of an

old nation with the malleability of a new one. 

★神预言：

There is still one country in Europe that is fit for legislation:

the island of Corsica科西嘉. The valour /'vælə/勇猛 and constancy 

shown by the worthy Corsicans in regaining and defending their 

freedom fully entitle them to be shown by some wise man how to

preserve it. I have a presentiment that this small island will

one day be the amazement of Europe.