3, 4, 5 of this chapter. But the general of a single
army, or of the entire military, is to be chosen but in time of war, and
among the patricians only, and is to hold the command for a year at
most, without power of being continued therein, or afterwards
reappointed. For this law, necessary as it is under a monarchy, is so
above all under this kind of dominion. For although it is much easier,
as we have said above, to transfer the dominion from one man to another
than from a free council to one man; yet it does often happen, that
patricians are subdued by their own generals, and that to the much
greater harm of the commonwealth. For when a monarch is removed, it is
but a change of tyrant, not of the form of dominion; but, under an
aristocracy, this cannot happen, without an upsetting of the form of
dominion, and a slaughter of the greatest men. Of which thing Rome has
offered the most mournful examples. But our reason for saying that,
under a monarchy, the militia should serve without pay, is here
inapplicable. For since the subjects are excluded from giving their
advice or votes, they are to be reckoned as foreigners, and are,
therefore, to be hired for service on no worse terms than foreigners.
And there is in this case no danger of their being distinguished above
the rest by the patricians: nay, further, to avoid the partial judgment
which everyone is apt to form of his own exploits, it is wiser for the
patricians to assign a fixed payment to the soldiers for their service.
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