He, therefore, who aspires to the
character of a legislator, ought, besides all we have already said, to
be able to correct the mistakes of a government already established,
as we have before mentioned. But this is impossible to be done by him
who does not know how many different forms of government there are:
some persons think that there is only one species both of democracy
and oligarchy; but this is not true: so that every one should be
acquainted with the difference of these governments, how great they
are, and whence they arise; and should have equal knowledge to
perceive what laws are best, and what are most suitable to each
particular government: for all laws are, and ought to be, framed
agreeable to the state that is to be governed by them, and not the
state to the laws: for government is a certain ordering in a state
which particularly respects the magistrates in what manner they shall
be regulated, and where the supreme power shall be placed; and what
shall be the final object which each community shall have in view; but
the laws are something different from what regulates and expresses the
form of the constitution-it is their office to direct the conduct of
the magistrate in the execution of his office and the punishment of
offenders. From whence it is evident, that the founders of laws should
attend both to the number and the different sorts of government; for
it is impossible that the same laws should be calculated for all sorts
of oligarchies and all sorts of democracies, for of both these
governments there are many species, not one only.
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