Jean-Jacques Rousseau · Complete work
Book III, Chapter 11
Book III, Chapter 11 of 49. Read it here for reference, or continue through the entire work without leaving the reader.
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De la mort du corps politique.
Telle est la pente naturelle & inévitable des Gouvernemens les mieux constitués. Si Sparte & Rome ont péri, quel État peut espérer de durer toujours? Si nous voulons former un établissement durable, ne songeons donc point à le rendre éternel. Pour réussir il ne faut pas tenter l’impossible, ni se flater de donner à l’ouvrage des hommes une solidité que les choses humaines ne comportent pas.
Le corps politique, aussi bien que le corps de l’homme, commence à mourir dès sa naissance & porte en lui-même les causes de sa déstruction. Mais l’un & l’autre peut avoir une constitution plus ou moins robuste & propre à le conserver plus ou moins longtems. La constitution de l’homme est l’ouvrage de la nature, celle de l’Etat est l’ouvrage de l’art. Il ne dépend pas des hommes de prolonger leur vie, il depend d’eux de prolonger celle de l’Etat aussi loin qu’il est possible, en lui donnant la meilleure constitution qu’il puisse avoir. Le mieux constitué finira, mais plus tard qu’un autre, si nul accident imprévu n’amene sa perte avant le tems.
Le principe de la vie politique est dans l’autorité Souveraine. La puissance législative est le cœur de l’Etat, la puissance exécutive en est le cerveau, qui donne le mouvement à toutes les parties. Le cerveau peut tomber en paralysie & l’individu vivre encore. Un homme reste imbécile & vit: mais sitôt que le cœur a cessé ses fonctions, l’animal est mort.
Ce n’est point par les loix que l’Etat subsiste, c’est par le pouvoir législatif. La loi d’hier n’oblige pas aujourd’hui, mais le consentement tacite est présumé du silence, & le Souverain est censé confirmer incessamment les loix qu’il n’abroge pas, pouvant le faire. Tout ce qu’il a déclaré vouloir une fois il le veut toujours, à moins qu’il ne le révoque.
Pourquoi donc porte-t-on tant de respect aux anciennes loix? C’est pour cela même. On doit croire qu’il n’y a que l’excellence des volontés antiques qui les ait pu conserver si longtems; si le Souverain ne les eut reconnu constamment salutaires il les eut mille fois révoquées. Voilà pourquoi loin de s’affoiblir les loix acquierent sans cesse une force nouvelle dans tout État bien constitué; le préjugé de l’antiquité les rend chaque jour plus vénérables; au lieu que par-tout où les loix s’affoiblissent en vieillissant, cela prouve qu’il n’y a plus de pouvoir législatif, & que l’État ne vit plus.
Musean translation
Mouseia’s complete machine-assisted Musean translation, made directly from the complete French text of the 1762 edition, all four books and the appendix for fidelity, the author’s force and cadence, and modern clarity.
On the Death of the Body Politic
Such is the natural and inevitable tendency even of the best-constituted governments. If Sparta and Rome have perished, what state can hope to endure forever? If we wish to found an enduring institution, let us not dream of making it eternal. To succeed we must not attempt the impossible or flatter ourselves that we can give the work of human hands a solidity that human affairs do not allow.
The body politic, like the human body, begins to die from the moment of its birth and carries within itself the causes of its destruction. But each may have a constitution more or less robust, better or less well suited to preserve it for a longer or shorter time. The human constitution is the work of nature; that of the state is the work of art. Human beings cannot prolong their own lives at will, but they can prolong the life of the state as far as possible by giving it the best constitution it can have. Even the best-constituted state will come to an end, but later than another would, unless some unforeseen accident destroys it before its time.
The principle of political life lies in sovereign authority. Legislative power is the heart of the state; executive power is its brain, which imparts motion to all its parts. The brain may be paralyzed and the person still live. A man may lose his reason and live; but as soon as the heart has ceased to function, the creature is dead.
It is not through its laws that the state subsists, but through its legislative power. Yesterday's law does not bind today; yet tacit consent is presumed from silence, and the sovereign is understood continually to confirm the laws it does not repeal, since it can repeal them. Whatever it once declared it wanted, it continues to want unless it revokes it.
Why, then, is so much respect paid to ancient laws? For precisely this reason. We must believe that only the excellence of earlier acts of will could have preserved them so long; if the sovereign had not constantly recognized their benefit, it would have repealed them a thousand times. This is why, far from weakening, laws continually acquire fresh strength in every well-constituted state: the reverence for antiquity makes them more venerable each day. Wherever laws weaken as they age, on the contrary, it proves that there is no longer any legislative power, and that the state no longer lives.
Plain English translation
Mouseia’s complete Plain English edition, made independently and directly from the complete French text of the 1762 edition, all four books and the appendix.
The death of the political body.
That is the natural and unavoidable tendency even of the best-constituted governments. If Sparta and Rome perished, what state can hope to last forever? If we want to establish something lasting, we should not aim to make it eternal. To succeed we must not attempt the impossible or flatter ourselves that human work can have a permanence that human affairs do not allow.
The political body, like the human body, begins to die as soon as it is born and carries the causes of its destruction within itself. But each can have a stronger or weaker constitution, able to preserve it for a longer or shorter time. A human being's constitution is the work of nature; the state's is the work of human skill. People cannot choose to extend their own lives, but they can extend the state's life as far as possible by giving it the best constitution it can have. Even the best-constituted state will end, but later than another would, unless an unforeseen accident brings it down early.
The source of political life lies in sovereign authority. Legislative power is the heart of the state; executive power is its brain, which sets every part in motion. The brain can become paralyzed while the person continues to live. A person can lose his mental powers and still live. But the moment the heart stops working, the living being dies.
The state survives not through its laws but through the power to make laws. Yesterday's law does not bind us today. But silence is taken as unspoken consent, and the sovereign is understood to confirm continually the laws it could repeal but does not. Whatever it has once declared that it wants, it continues to want unless it takes that declaration back.
Why, then, do people respect old laws so much? For just this reason. We must assume that only the excellence of past decisions could have preserved those laws so long. If the sovereign had not constantly recognized their benefit, it would have repealed them a thousand times. That is why laws continually gain new strength, rather than lose it, in every well-constituted state. Respect for their age makes them more honored every day. By contrast, wherever laws grow weaker with age, this proves that the power to make laws no longer exists and the state is no longer alive.