In extensive governments it is proper to allot one employment to one
person, as there are many to serve the public in so numerous a
society, where some may be passed over for a long time, and others
never be in office but once; and indeed everything is better done
which has the whole attention of one person, than when that [1299b]
attention is divided amongst many; but in small states it is necessary
that a few of the citizens should execute many employments; for their
numbers are so small it will not be convenient to have many of them in
office at the same time; for where shall we find others to succeed
them in turn? Small states will sometimes want the same magistrates
and the same laws as large ones; but the one will not want to employ
them so often as the other; so that different charges may be intrusted
to the same person without any inconvenience, for they will not
interfere with each other, and for want of sufficient members in the
community it will be necessary. If we could tell how many magistrates
are necessary in every city, and how many, though not necessary, it is
yet proper to have, we could then the better know how many different
offices one might assign to one magistrate. It is also necessary to
know what tribunals in different places should have different things
under their jurisdiction, and also what things should always come
under the cognisance of the same magistrate; as, for instance, decency
of manners, shall the clerk of the market take cognisance of that if
the cause arises in the market, and another magistrate in another
place, or the same magistrate everywhere: or shall there be a
distinction made of the fact, or the parties? as, for instance, in
decency of manners, shall it be one cause when it relates to a man,
another when it relates to a woman?
In different states shall the magistrates be different or the same? I
mean, whether in a democracy, an oligarchy, an aristocracy, and a
monarchy, the same persons shall have the same power? or shall it vary
according to the different formation of the government? as in an
aristocracy the offices of the state are allotted to those who are
well educated; in an oligarchy to those who are rich; in a democracy
to the freemen? Or shall the magistrates differ as the communities
differ? For it may happen that the very same may be sometimes proper,
sometimes otherwise: in this state it may be necessary that the
magistrate have great powers, in that but small.
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