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Leviathan - 10

2023-08-17 23:40 作者:__星夜  | 我要投稿

===CHAPTER XXIX : OF THOSE THINGS THAT WEAKEN, OR TEND TO THE 

DISSOLUTION OF A COMMONWEALTH


If the right of the sovereign also be excluded排除, he cannot 

perform the office they have put him into; which is, to defend 

them both from foreign enemies, and from the injuries of one another; 

and consequently there is no longer a commonwealth. 


Powers divided mutually destroy each other.


And as false doctrine, so also oftentimes the example of different

government in a neighbouring邻近的 nation, disposeth安排 men to alteration 

of the form already settled. 

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So the people of the Jews were stirred up to reject God, and to 

call upon the prophet先知 Samuel, for a king after the manner of the nations: 

so also the lesser cities of Greece, were continually disturbed, with 

seditions(shan动) of the aristocratical, and democratical factions; one part 

of almost every commonwealth, desiring to imitate the Lacedemonians古斯巴达人; 

the other, the Athenians.


And as to rebellion in particular against monarchy; one of the 

most frequent causes of it, is the reading of the books of policy, and 

histories of the ancient Greeks, and Romans; from which, young 

men, and all others that are unprovided无生活来源的 of the antidote解药 of 

solid reason, receiving a strong, and delightful impression, of the great 

exploits of war, achieved by the conductors of their armies, receive 

withal a pleasing idea,of all they have done besides; 

-

and imagine their great prosperity兴旺/繁荣, not to have proceeded from the 

emulation仿效 of particular men, but from the virtue of their popular form 

of government: not considering the frequent seditions(shan动), and civil wars, 

produced by the imperfection of their policy. 

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From the reading, I say, of such books, men 

have undertaken着手/承担 to kill their kings, because the Greek 

and Latin writers, in their books, and discourses论文/演说 of 

policy,make it lawful, and laudable值得赞美的, for any man so to do;

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before he do it, he call him tyrant. For they say not regicide弑君者, that is, 

killing a king, but tyrannicide诛杀bao君者, that is, killing of a tyrant is lawful. 

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From the same books, they that live under a monarch conceive an 

opinion, that the subjects in a popular commonwealth enjoy liberty; 

but that in a monarchy they are all slaves. 

-

★In sum, I cannot imagine, how any thing can be more prejudicial to a 

monarchy, than the allowing of such books to be publicly read, without 

present applying such correctives of discreet谨慎的 masters, as are fit to take 

away their venom毒: which venom I will not doubt to compare to the biting 

of a mad dog, which is a disease the physicians call hydrophobia狂犬病.

-

For as he that is so bitten, has a continual torment折磨 of 

thirst, and yet abhorreth厌恶 water; and is in such an estate, as if the 

poison endeavoured to convert使转化 him into a dog: so when a monarchy 

is once bitten to the quick, by those democratical writers, that 

continually snarl咆哮 at that estate; it wanteth nothing more 

than a strong monarch, which nevertheless out of a certain 

tyrannophobia(BaoZheng恐惧症), or fear of being strongly governed, 

when they have him, they abhor厌恶/拒绝. 


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