The Same (Continued)

The moment the people is legitimately assembled as a sovereign body, the jurisdiction of the government wholly lapses, the executive power is suspended, and the person of the meanest citizen is as sacred and inviolable as that of the first magistrate; for in the presence of the person represented, representatives no longer exist. Most of the tumults that arose in the comitia at Rome were due to ignorance or neglect of this rule. The consuls were in them merely the presidents of the people; the tribunes were mere speakers;¹ the senate was nothing at all.

The moment the people lawfully assemble as a sovereign body, the government loses all its authority. Executive power is suspended. The humblest citizen is as sacred and inviolable as the highest magistrate. This is because representatives have no role when those they represent are present. Most disturbances in the comitia, Rome’s popular assemblies, arose because this rule was unknown or ignored. In these assemblies, the consuls merely presided over the people. The tribunes were merely speakers.¹ The senate had no authority at all.

These intervals of suspension, during which the prince recognises or ought to recognise an actual superior, have always been viewed by him with alarm; and these assemblies of the people, which are the aegis of the body politic and the curb on the government, have at all times been the horror of rulers: who therefore never spare pains, objections, difficulties, and promises, to stop the citizens from having them. When the citizens are greedy, cowardly, and pusillanimous, and love ease more than liberty, they do not long hold out against the redoubled efforts of the government; and thus, as the resisting force incessantly grows, the sovereign authority ends by disappearing, and most cities fall and perish before their time.

These periods when government power is suspended have always alarmed the prince. During these periods, the prince recognizes, or ought to recognize, a power above him. Assemblies of the people protect the political community and restrain the government, and rulers have always dreaded them. So rulers spare no effort, raising objections, creating difficulties, and making promises to prevent citizens from holding these assemblies. When citizens are greedy, cowardly, and fainthearted, and love comfort more than freedom, they cannot resist the government’s intensified efforts for long. And so, as the force opposing the people constantly grows, the people’s supreme authority eventually disappears. Most cities therefore collapse and perish before their time.

But between the sovereign authority and arbitrary government there sometimes intervenes a mean power of which something must be said.

But an intermediate power sometimes stands between sovereign authority and arbitrary government. Something must be said about this power.