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[i]f Vice And Corruption Prevail, Liberty Cannot Subsist; But If Virtue Have The Advantage, Arbitrary Power Cannot Be Established.

Men Lived Like Fishes; The Great Ones Devoured The Small.

Laws And Constitutions Ought To Be Weighed... To Constitute That Which Is Most Conducing To The Establishment Of Justice And Liberty.

God Leaves To Man The Choice Of Forms In Government; And Those Who Constitute One Form, May Abrogate It.

Machiavel, Discoursing On These Matters, Finds Virtue To Be So Essentially Necessary To The Establishment And Preservation Of Liberty, That He Thinks It Impossible For A Corrupted People To Set Up A Good Government, Or For A Tyranny To Be Introduced If They Be Virtuous; And Makes This Conclusion, 'that Where The Matter (that Is, The Body Of The People) Is Not Corrupted, Tumults And Disorders Do Not Hurt; And Where It Is Corrupted, Good Laws Do No Good:' Which Being Confirmed By Reason And Experience, I Think No Wise Man Has Ever Contradicted Him.