Page:Essays, Moral and Political - David Hume (1741).djvu/119

 cause the Influence of Factions is directly contrary to that of Laws. Factions subvert Government; render Laws impotent, and beget the fiercest Animosities among Men of the same Nation, who ought to give mutual Assistance and Protection to each other. And what shou'd render the Founders of Factions more odious is the Difficulty of extirpating Factions, when once they have taken rise in any State. They naturally propagate themselves for many Centuries, and seldom end but by the total Dissolution of that Government, in which they are planted. They are, besides, Seeds, which grow most plentifully in the richest Soils; and though despotic Governments be not entirely free from them, it must be confess'd, that they rise more easily, and propagate themselves faster in free Governments, where they always infect the Legislature itself, which alone cou'd be able, by the steady Application of Rewards and Punishments, to eradicate them.

or Parties may be divided into and ; that is, into Factions founded on personal Friendship or Animosity among those who compose the Fac-