Jean-Jacques Rousseau · Complete work
Book III, Chapter 12
Book III, Chapter 12 of 49. Read it here for reference, or continue through the entire work without leaving the reader.
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Comment se maintient l’autorité Souveraine.
Le Souverain n’ayant d’autre force que la puissance législative n’agit que par des loix, & les loix n’étant que des actes authentiques de la volonté générale, le Souverain ne sauroit agir que quand le peuple est assemblé. Le peuple assemblé, dira-t-on! Quelle chimere! C’est une chimere aujourd’hui, mais ce n’en étoit pas une il y a deux mille ans: Les hommes ont-ils changé de nature?
Les bornes du possible dans les choses morales sont moins étroites que nous ne pensons: Ce sont nos foiblesses, nos vices, nos préjugés qui les rétrécissent. Les ames basses ne croyent point aux grands hommes: de vils esclaves sourient d’un air moqueur à ce mot de liberté.
Par ce qui s’est fait considérons ce qui se peut faire; je ne parlerai pas des anciennes républiques de la Grece, mais la République romaine étoit, ce me semble, un grand État, & la ville de Rome une grande ville. Le dernier Cens donna dans Rome quatre cent mille Citoyens portans armes, & le dernier dénombrement de l’Empire plus de quatre millions de Citoyens sans compter les sujets, les étrangers, les femmes, les enfans, les esclaves.
Quelle difficulté n’imagineroit-on pas d’assembler fréquemment le peuple immense de cette capitale & de ces environs? Cependant il se passoit peu de semaines que le peuple romain ne fut assemblé, & même plusieurs fois. Non seulement il exerceoit les droit de la souveraineté, mais une partie de ceux du Gouvernement. Il traittoit certaines affaires, il jugeoit certaines causes, & tout ce peuple étoit sur la place publique presque aussi souvent magistrat que Citoyen.
En remontant aux premiers tems des Nations on trouveroit que la plupart des anciens gouvernemens, même monarchiques tels que ceux des Macédoniens & des Francs, avoient de semblables Conseils. Quoi qu’il en soit, ce seul fait incontestable répond à toutes les difficultés: De l’existant au possible la conséquence me paroit bonne.
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.
How Sovereign Authority Is Maintained
Since the sovereign has no force other than legislative power, it acts only through laws; and since laws are merely authentic acts of the general will, the sovereign can act only when the people are assembled. The people assembled, someone will say! What a chimera! It is a chimera today, but it was not one two thousand years ago. Has human nature changed?
The limits of what is possible in moral affairs are less narrow than we think: it is our weaknesses, our vices, our prejudices that make them narrower. Base souls do not believe in great men; abject slaves smile mockingly at the word freedom.
From what has been done, let us consider what can be done. I shall not speak of the ancient republics of Greece, but the Roman Republic was, it seems to me, a great state, and the city of Rome a great city. The last census recorded four hundred thousand citizens bearing arms in Rome, and the last count of the Empire more than four million citizens, not including subjects, foreigners, women, children, and slaves.
What difficulties people would imagine in frequently assembling the immense population of that capital and its surroundings! Yet hardly a few weeks went by without the Roman people assembling, sometimes more than once. Not only did they exercise the rights of sovereignty, but some of those of government as well. They conducted certain affairs and judged certain cases, and all these people were in the public square almost as often as magistrates as they were as citizens.
If we go back to the earliest days of nations, we find that most ancient governments, even monarchies such as those of the Macedonians and the Franks, had similar councils. In any case, this one indisputable fact answers every difficulty: from what exists to what is possible the inference seems sound to me.
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.
How sovereign authority is maintained.
The sovereign has no power except the power to make laws, and so it acts only through laws. Laws are official acts of the general will, so the sovereign can act only when the people are assembled. The people assembled, someone will say! What a fantasy! It is a fantasy today, but it was not one two thousand years ago. Have human beings changed their nature?
The limits of what is possible in moral matters are less narrow than we think. Our weaknesses, vices, and prejudices make them narrower. Small-minded people do not believe in great people. Servile people sneer at the word freedom.
Let us use what has been done to judge what can be done. I will not speak of the ancient Greek republics. But the Roman Republic was, I think, a large state, and the city of Rome was a large city. The last census counted four hundred thousand citizens of Rome able to bear arms. The last count of the Empire recorded more than four million citizens, not including subjects, foreigners, women, children, and slaves.
How difficult we might imagine it would be to assemble the huge population of that capital and its surrounding area often! Yet hardly a few weeks went by without the Roman people assembling, sometimes several times. They exercised not only the rights of sovereignty but also some of the rights of government. They handled certain affairs and judged certain cases. Almost as often as they acted as citizens, all these people acted as magistrates in the public square.
If we look back to the earliest times of nations, we find that most ancient governments, even monarchies like those of the Macedonians and the Franks, had similar councils. In any case, this one undeniable fact answers every objection. It seems reasonable to me to conclude that what has existed is possible.