Page:Montesquieu - The spirit of laws.djvu/78

26 princes of the East, who, being bred in that prison where their eunuchs enervate both their hearts and understandings, and where they are frequently kept ignorant even of their high rank, when drawn forth in order to be placed on the throne, they are at first amazed: but as soon as they have chosen a vizir, they abandon themselves in their seraglio to the most brutal passions, pursuing in the midst of a prostituted court, the most capricious extravagancies; they then could neven have dreamt to find matters so easy.

The greater the extent of an empire, the greater is the seraglio; and consequently so much the more is the prince intoxicated with pleasure. Hence the more nations such a prince has to govern, the less he attends to the government, the greater his affairs, the less he makes them the subject of his deliberations. Rh