"David Hume - Of the Rise and Progress of the Arts and Sciences" - читать интересную книгу автора (Hume David)

discontented, may, by a little art, be kept in obedience;
while each part, ignorant of the resolutions of the rest, is
afraid to begin any commotion or insurrection. Not to mention,
that there is a superstitious reverence for princes, which
mankind naturally contract when they do not often see the
sovereign, and when many of them become not acquainted with
him so as to perceive his weaknesses. And as large states can
afford a great expence, in order to support the pomp of
majesty; this is a kind of fascination on men, and naturally
contributes to the enslaving of them.

In a small government, any act of oppression is immediately
known throughout the whole: The murmurs and discontents,
proceeding from it, are easily communicated: And the
indignation arises the higher, because the subjects are not
apt to apprehend in such states, that the distance is very
wide between themselves and their sovereign. 'No man,' said
the prince of CondВ, 'is a hero to his Valet de Chambre.' It
is certain that admiration and acquaintance are altogether
incompatible towards any mortal creature. Sleep and love
convinced even Alexander himself that he was not a God: But I
suppose that such as daily attended him could easily, from the
numberless weaknesses to which he was subject, have given him
many still more convincing proofs of his humanity.

But the divisions into small states are favourable to
learning, by stopping the progress of authority as well as
that of power. Reputation is often as great a fascination upon
men as sovereignty, and is equally destructive to the freedom
of thought and examination. But where a number of neighbouring
states have a great intercourse of arts and commerce, their
mutual jealousy keeps them from receiving too lightly the law
from each other, in matters of taste and of reasoning, and
makes them examine every work of art with the greatest care
and accuracy. The contagion of popular opinion spreads not so
easily from one place to another. It readily receives a check
in some state or other, where it concurs not with the
prevailing prejudices. And nothing but nature and reason, or,
at least, what bears them a strong resemblance, can force its
way through all obstacles, and unite the most rival nations
into an esteem and admiration of it.

Greece was a cluster of little principalities, which soon
became republics; and being united both by their near
neighbourhood, and by the ties of the same language and
interest, they entered into the closest intercourse of
commerce and learning. There concurred a happy climate, a soil
not unfertile, and a most harmonious and comprehensive
language; so that every circumstance among that people seemed
to favour the rise of the arts and sciences. Each city