A king,
therefore, is altogether in need of counsellors, but a council like this
is not so in the least. In the second place, kings are mortal, but
councils are everlasting. And so the power of the dominion which has
once been transferred to a large enough council never reverts to the
multitude. But this is otherwise in a monarchy, as we showed (Chap. VII.
Sec. 25). Thirdly, a king's dominion is often on sufferance, whether
from his minority, sickness, or old age, or from other causes; but the
power of a council of this kind, on the contrary, remains always one and
the same. In the fourth place, one man's will is very fluctuating and
inconstant; and, therefore, in a monarchy, all law is, indeed, the
explicit will of the king (as we said. Chap. VII. Sec. 1), but not every
will of the king ought to be law; but this cannot be said of the will of
a sufficiently numerous council. For since the council itself, as we
have just shown, needs no counsellors, its every explicit will ought to
be law. And hence we conclude, that the dominion conferred upon a large
enough council is absolute, or approaches nearest to the absolute. For
if there be any absolute dominion, it is, in fact, that which is held by
an entire multitude.
4. Yet in so far as this aristocratic dominion never (as has just been
shown) reverts to the multitude, and there is under it no consultation
with the multitude, but, without qualification, every will of the
council is law, it must be considered as quite absolute, and therefore
its foundations ought to rest only on the will and judgment of the said
council, and not on the watchfulness of the multitude, since the latter
is excluded from giving its advice or its vote.
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