Page:The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, Volume 4.djvu/379

Rh much longer than politicians seem to be aware of; especially where some bold steps are made to corrupt the very fountain of power and legislature: in which case, as it may happen in some states, the whole body of the people are drawn in, by their own supposed consent, to be their own enslavers; and where will they find a thread to wind themselves out of this labyrinth? or will they not rather wish to be governed by arbitrary power, after the manner of other nations? For, whoever considers the course of the Roman empire after Cæsar's usurpation, the long continuance of the Turkish government, or the destruction of the gothick balance in most kingdoms of Europe, will easily see how controllable that maxim is, that res nolunt diu malè administrari: because, as corruptions are more natural to mankind, than perfections, so they are more likely to have a longer continuance. For, the vices of men, considered as individuals, are exactly the same when they are moulded into bodies; nor otherwise to be withheld in their effects, than by good fundamental laws; in which, when any great breaches are made, the consequence will be the same as in the life of a particular man; whose vices, are seldom known to end, out with himself.