Page:Montesquieu - The spirit of laws.djvu/147

Rh. The Mogul never receives the petitions of his subjects, if they come with empty hands, These princes spoil even their own favours.

But thus it must ever be in a government where no man is a citizen; in a government where they have all a notion that a superior is under no obligation to an inferior; in a government where men imagine themselves bound by no other tie than the of the chastisements inflicted by one party over another; in a government, in fine, where there is very little to do, and where the people have seldom an occasion of presenting themselves before the great, of offering their petitions, and much less their complaints.

In a republic presents are odious, because virtue stands in no need of them. In monarchies honor is a much stronger incentive than presents. But in a despotic government, where there is neither honor nor virtue, people cannot be determined to act but through hope of the conveniencies of life.

It is in conformity to republican ideas, that Plato ordered those who received presents for doing their duty, to be punished with death. They must not take presents, says he, neither for good nor for evil actions.

A very bad law that was among the Romans, which gave the magistrates leave to accept of small presents , provided they did not exceed one hundred crowns the whole year. They who receive nothing expect nothing; they who receive a little, soon desire a little more, till at length their desires swell to an exorbitant height. Besides, it is much easier to convict a man, who knows Rh