Book V.
Chap. 14.his master, his lesson, or his pace. Thus an impression is made on his brain by two or three motions, and no more.
If a prince is shut up in a seraglio, he cannot leave this voluptuous abode without alarming those who keep him confined. They cannot bear that his person and power should pass into other hands. He seldom therefore wages war in person, and hardly ventures to intrust the command to his generals.
A prince of this stamp, unaccustomed to resistance in his palace, is enraged to see his will opposed by armed force; hence he is generally governed by wrath or vengeance.
Besides, he can have no notion of true glory. War therefore is carried on under such a government in its full natural fury, and a less extent is given to the law of nations than in other states.
Such a prince has so many imperfections, that they are afraid to expose his natural stupidity to public view. He is concealed in his palace, and the people are ignorant of his situation. It is lucky for him, that the inhabitants of those countries need only the name of a prince to govern them.
When Charles XII. was at Bender, he met with some opposition from the senate of Sweden; upon which he wrote word home that he would send one of his boots to command them. This boot would have governed like a despotic prince.
If the prince is a prisoner, he is supposed to be dead, and another mounts the throne. The treaties made by the prisoner are void, his successor will not ratify them: in effect, as he is the law, the state, and the prince; when he is no longer a prince, he
