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96 obliged to accept of no present at all, and yet will accept of something, than a person who takes more when he ought to take less, and who always finds pretexts, excuses, and plausible reasons in justification of his conduct.

N despotic governments, where, as we have already observed, the principal motive of action is the hope of the conveniencies of life, the prince who confers rewards, has nothing to bestow but money. In monarchies where honor alone predominates, the prince's rewards would consist only of marks of distinction, if the distinctions established by honor were not attended with luxury which necessarily brings on its wants: the prince therefore is obliged to confer such honors as lead to wealth. But in a republic where virtue reigns, a motive self-sufficient and which excludes all others, the recompences of the state consist only of public attestations of this virtue.

It is a general rule, that great rewards in monarchies and republics, are a sign of their decline; because they are a proof of their principles being corrupted, and that the idea of honor has no longer the same force in monarchy, nor the title of citizen the same force in a republic.

The very worst Roman emperors, were those who were most profuse in their largesses; for example, Caligula, Claudius, Nero, Otho, Vitellius, Commodus, Heliogabalus, and Caracalla. The best, as Rh