Government
‹ 4 · Outline · 6 ›
5.Ministers, councils and the conduct of deliberation
5a.The choice and trustworthiness of ministers and counsellors
Confucius, The Sayings of ConfuciusVol. 44
- p. 17Ning Wu served his duke loyally through exile and restoration.read · scan
- p. 35–36Ministers should serve on principle, not as mere tools.read · scan
- p. 40Rulers Shun and T'ang chose upright men and evil vanished.read · scan
- p. 47Wicked Duke Ling of Wei survives because of capable ministers in charge of guests, temple and troops.read · scan
- p. 48Serve a king by never cheating him but withstanding him to his face.read · scan
Aristophanes, The FrogsVol. 8
- p. 482Dionysus asks each poet for advice on saving Athens and on Alcibiades; Euripides loathes a citizen who serves himself not the state.read · scan
- p. 482Poets propose how to save Athens: Euripides says trust the distrusted; Aeschylus says treat enemy land as own and count ships as true wealth.read · scan
Plutarch, CaesarVol. 12
- p. 305–306Caesar, as dictator and consul, must use disliked men to carry out his own scheme of government.read · scan
Chapters from the KoranVol. 45
- p. 962–963The prophet as leader is told to deal gently, pardon, and take counsel with followers.read · scan
Niccolò Machiavelli, The PrinceVol. 36
- p. 76A minister who seeks his own ends cannot be trusted; a prince should bind him with honours, wealth and responsibility.read · scan
Sir Thomas More, UtopiaVol. 36
- p. 135Diplomatic commission between King Henry and the Prince of Castile.read · scan
- p. 142Morton as Lord Chancellor is trusted by king and commonwealth, fit for public administration.read · scan
- p. 142The Cardinal proposes the king try the plan by reprieving condemned men, and applies it to vagabonds.read · scan
- p. 142–157Counsel to princes and courts is proposed as the way to improve the commonwealth.read · scan
- p. 164Do not forsake the ship of state in a tempest; counsel kings even when evil opinions cannot be uprooted.read · scan
- p. 165Counselling in a king's council means either saying nothing useful or furthering folly.read · scan
Benvenuto Cellini, The Autobiography of Benvenuto CelliniVol. 31
- p. 158Ottaviano de' Medici holds administrative power and overrides the Duke's preferences, showing rivalry among officials of the court.read · scan
- p. 391Court intrigue: the Duke and Duchess give opposing orders to porters, and the broker is used to press the Duchess's suit.read · scan
- p. 396The Duke's precise orders open every door to Cellini, while the Duchess obstructs him, showing court power and favour.read · scan
Francis Bacon, Essays, Civil and MoralVol. 3
- p. 53–54Cabinet councils in Italy and France; secret counsel with one or two persons keeps one direction.read · scan
William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of DenmarkVol. 46
- p. 138–143The King and Queen set courtiers to probe Hamlet's madness and use the players to divert him.read · scan
William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of King LearVol. 46
- p. 244–246Cornwall enlists Gloucester's counsel and Edmund's service in their affairs.read · scan
John Webster, The Duchess of MalfiVol. 47
- p. 755–756Antonio praises the French king who purges his court of flatterers, and a wise council that dares inform him of corruption.read · scan
- p. 759–762Ferdinand and the cardinal plan to plant Bosola as spy in the court; intelligence-gathering by rulers.read · scan
Izaak Walton, The Life of Mr. George HerbertVol. 15
- p. 374–375Edward served as ambassador to France, clashing with the royal favourite, then returning to be re-sent.read · scan
William Penn, Some Fruits of SolitudeVol. 1
- p. 352Ministers and councils: princes responsible for choice of ministers; safety in well-chosen qualified council.read · scan
William Penn, More Fruits of SolitudeVol. 1
- p. 377Denies that government needs knaves; employing them perverts the ends of government.read · scan
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, EgmontVol. 19
- p. 255The king might be gracious enough with better counsellors.read · scan
- p. 256–257The Regent is praised as prudent but blamed for yielding to the priests and the king's will on the bishoprics.read · scan
William Makepeace Thackeray, Jonathan SwiftVol. 28
- p. 15–16Swift wields patronage and influence at court, soliciting places and dealing with the Lord Treasurer.read · scan
5b.Procedure of councils, senates and assemblies
Homer, The OdysseyVol. 22
- p. 43Nestor sits as warder of the Achaeans on the stones of counsel with his staff.read · scan
- p. 99King Alcinous convenes the assembly of Phaeacian captains and counsellors to hear about the stranger.read · scan
Confucius, The Sayings of ConfuciusVol. 44
- p. 45–46Drafting of decrees passed through careful stages by several ministers.read · scan
Aesop, FablesVol. 17
- p. 38The mice hold a council to deliberate on a common danger.read · scan
Aeschylus, AgamemnonVol. 8
- p. 38–39Agamemnon promises public council to decide matters and medicine what needs healing in the state.read · scan
Marcus Tullius Cicero, On Old AgeVol. 9
- p. 51Old men serve the state by counsel, deliberation and authority; the Senate and Spartan elders show rule by the aged.read · scan
Marcus Tullius Cicero, Letters of CiceroVol. 9
- p. 97Senate business stalled while speeches denounce the state of the Republic.read · scan
- p. 97Senate debates in the temple of Apollo; Cato and others attack Pompey, and factions maneuver over bills.read · scan
- p. 118Public life and speaking in the senate as the field of political activity.read · scan
- p. 177–178The senate wisely uses honourable inducements to secure support from commanders.read · scan
Virgil, The AeneidVol. 13
- p. 355Latinus convenes the senate council to hear the envoys' report; factions and debate over Turnus and the war.read · scan
- p. 355–366King Latinus addresses the council, admits earlier wisdom was needed, and proposes a settlement with commissioned senators.read · scan
- p. 366Latinus summons the senate; Drances in council blames Turnus and urges peace; war policy debated in council.read · scan
- p. 366Latinus dismisses the council as danger nears.read · scan
Luke, The Acts of the ApostlesVol. 44
- p. 456–457Apostles and elders deliberate together and send authoritative decrees by chosen envoys.read · scan
Plutarch, AlcibiadesVol. 12
- p. 121Council and assembly investigate the mutilation as a suspected conspiracy against the state.read · scan
Plutarch, CoriolanusVol. 12
- p. 150Senate divided over relaxing the rigor of the law or resisting the people.read · scan
- p. 151–152Menenius's fable of the belly presents the senate as the digesting organ that sustains the whole body politic.read · scan
- p. 163–164Patricians debate whether letting the people judge a patrician will destroy the senate or soothe the people.read · scan
- p. 171Volscian assembly votes for war and gives Marcius joint command with Tullus.read · scan
Plutarch, CiceroVol. 12
- p. 234Senate deliberation, tribunes' appeal and decree show the working of Roman republican institutions.read · scan
Plutarch, CaesarVol. 12
- p. 290The senate votes on whether Caesar or Pompey should disband, splitting and adjourning in mourning.read · scan
Tacitus, GermanyVol. 33
- p. 99Chiefs decide small matters while the whole nation deliberates larger ones; assemblies on stated days with priests enforcing order.read · scan
- p. 105–106Councils on peace, war and choosing princes take place at feasts, then are reviewed the next day sober.read · scan
The Song of RolandVol. 49
- p. 189–190Karl's barons in council oppose their king, who calls them felons and grows despondent.read · scan
Sir Thomas More, UtopiaVol. 36
- p. 171–172Three wise old men from each city meet yearly at Amaurote to debate common matters; a philarch heads every thirty farms.read · scan
- p. 177Describes Utopian officers: syphogrants, tranibores and a prince chosen by secret election, with councils meeting on commonwealth matters.read · scan
Francis Pretty, Sir Francis Drake's Famous Voyage Round the WorldVol. 33
- p. 219–220A council of sixty grave personages sits in the king's absence.read · scan
Francis Bacon, Essays, Civil and MoralVol. 3
- p. 55Bacon prescribes orderly procedure for councils: deliberate a day later, use committees, commissions, hear professionals, seat arrangements affecting who sways business.read · scan
Thomas Hobbes, Of Man, Being the First Part of LeviathanVol. 34
- p. 416–417An assembly with veto powers is unfit to govern a multitude, especially in war.read · scan
John Milton, Paradise LostVol. 4
- p. 90Heralds summon the worthiest to a solemn council at the infernal capital; bees' state-affairs likened to it.read · scan
- p. 108Satan presides over a council debating war or guile, claiming his throne is secure from envy and faction.read · scan
- p. 108Debate in council, popular vote, proposal of a growing empire in Hell.read · scan
- p. 108Infernal council votes and debates; leader chosen to undertake the enterprise on which all hope relies.read · scan
- p. 342A Senate of twelve tribes is chosen to rule.read · scan
Blaise Pascal, ThoughtsVol. 48
- p. 305–306Majority is best way because visible and strong, yet is the opinion of the least able.read · scan
John Dryden, Dedication of the AeneisVol. 13
- p. 19–21Rulers should steer by senate counsel for the common good.read · scan
William Penn, Some Fruits of SolitudeVol. 1
- p. 352–353Councils should be composed of men suited to each business; looseness, oppression and envy ruin governments.read · scan
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, EgmontVol. 19
- p. 264–265The Regent plans to force the council to share responsibility for quelling the unrest or declare themselves rebels.read · scan
John Stuart Mill, AutobiographyVol. 25
- p. 76Project to publish Parliamentary Debates classified by subject with commentary on speakers' fallacies.read · scan
Charles Darwin, The Voyage of the BeagleVol. 29
- p. 419–420Tahitian parliament of chiefs and queen deliberates a debt, showing good sense, moderation and prompt issuing of law.read · scan
James Russell Lowell, DemocracyVol. 28
- p. 464Government by discussion is safer than settling questions by force, though it may be mere gabble; press debates run ahead of Parliament.read · scan
5c.Parties, factions and popular leadership
Marcus Tullius Cicero, Letters of CiceroVol. 9
- p. 86Cicero recounts the quarrel between senate and equites and his efforts to maintain harmony of the orders and to cultivate Pompey.read · scan
- p. 120Political maneuvering among Pompey, Caesar and Crassus over the Campanian land question and senate motions.read · scan
- p. 122Pompey as leading statesman, whose power came from services to the state.read · scan
- p. 125–126Political realignment: the loyalists (Optimates) abandoned by their leaders, so wise citizens must change policy.read · scan
- p. 128Pompey and Caesar press for reconciliation with Crassus for the sake of public harmony among leading men.read · scan
- p. 128–129Statesmen should keep to the same object, peace combined with dignity, while adapting language and policy; not fight overwhelming power.read · scan
Plutarch, ThemistoclesVol. 12
- p. 10Ostracism of Aristides, election of a general by vote, and factional politics in Athens.read · scan
Plutarch, PericlesVol. 12
- p. 45Rival leaders bargain over commands abroad and power at home.read · scan
- p. 64–65Pericles manipulates the assembly's votes and commands, sending Cimon's son with few ships to discredit him.read · scan
- p. 76After his death, demagogues and lesser orators brought corruption and mischief that his authority had kept low.read · scan
Plutarch, AlcibiadesVol. 12
- p. 115–116Young Alcibiades outmaneuvers rival statesmen Nicias and Phaeax for the people's confidence.read · scan
- p. 116Alcibiades manipulates Athenian policy and popular feeling through accusations against a rival.read · scan
Plutarch, CoriolanusVol. 12
- p. 157Consuls plan a colony and foreign campaign as politic means to drain discontent and reconcile the classes.read · scan
- p. 159–160Tribunes' authority undermines consuls and magistracy; grants fed by fear breed further sedition.read · scan
- p. 160–162Marcius argues the tribunician power subverts the consulship and divides Rome; consuls counsel concessions to pacify the people.read · scan
Plutarch, CiceroVol. 12
- p. 227–228The statesman should prefer the honest to the popular in action, and speak so as to avoid offence.read · scan
- p. 236Hostile tribunes and praetors block Cicero's farewell address and propose recalling Pompey, revealing political rivalry.read · scan
- p. 242Clodius as tribune uses popular laws, provinces and armed slaves to build a party against Cicero.read · scan
- p. 254Cicero allies with young Caesar against Antony, offering eloquence and senate influence in return for protection.read · scan
Plutarch, CaesarVol. 12
- p. 274Caesar as consul pushes land bills through by popular appeal against the senate, and uses marriages to bind allies to offices.read · scan
- p. 289–290Rivalry between Pompey and Caesar over provinces and commands, in a weak state, drives toward force over senate votes.read · scan
Plutarch, AntonyVol. 12
- p. 329Caesar's consulships and choice of colleagues; party quarrels in Rome.read · scan
- p. 344The triumvirs divide the empire and agree to take turns making friends consuls.read · scan
- p. 364–365Dispute over division of provinces, armies and revenues among triumvirs and the deposing of Lepidus.read · scan
- p. 367–368Antony risks being deprived of authority by vote and proclaimed a public enemy of the Roman state.read · scan
Dante Alighieri, ParadiseVol. 20
- p. 306–308Faction politics: Guelfs and Ghibellines misuse the imperial ensign for party ends.read · scan
Sir Walter Raleigh, PoemsVol. 40
- p. 205–207Potentates rule through others and factions; officeholders' purpose is ambition.read · scan
Francis Bacon, Essays, Civil and MoralVol. 3
- p. 28–31Advice on rising to place, using factions, and respecting predecessors and colleagues; boldness works in popular states more than with senates and princes.read · scan
- p. 122–123A prince should govern by general matters agreed across factions rather than by faction; great men should stay neutral.read · scan
- p. 123Factions and their subdivision; kings must not side with a faction, and factions should be carried by the sovereign like inferior orbs by the primum mobile.read · scan
Christopher Marlowe, Edward the SecondVol. 46
- p. 22Nobles debate policy toward the king's favourite as a matter of the realm's good and their own advantage.read · scan
Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher, Philaster, or Love Lies A-BleedingVol. 47
- p. 738–740Philaster undertakes to calm the mutinous people and restore peaceread · scan
- p. 740–742Philaster restores order, pardons the crowd, and promises them their wishesread · scan
John Webster, The Duchess of MalfiVol. 47
- p. 805–807Pescara compares factions among great men to foxes that carry fire, ruining the country.read · scan
William Penn, Some Fruits of SolitudeVol. 1
- p. 356–357Partiality contributes to factions in government.read · scan
Voltaire, Letters on the EnglishVol. 34
- p. 156Party politics (Whigs ruining Bolingbroke and Oxford) doomed the academy after Queen Anne's death.read · scan
Benjamin Franklin, His AutobiographyVol. 1
- p. 88–90Few in public affairs act from the good of country or mankind; parties divide over private interests.read · scan
Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of NationsVol. 10
- p. 349–351Monopolist manufacturers intimidate the legislature; members who oppose them face abuse, while supporters gain popularity.read · scan
Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in FranceVol. 24
- p. 374–375Making a government is easy, but forming a free one needs deep thought; leaders bidding for popularity become flatterers, not legislators.read · scan
- p. 375–376Popular leaders are pushed to propagate doctrines and powers that defeat their own sober aims.read · scan
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, EgmontVol. 19
- p. 263–264The Regent distrusts Egmont and Orange as rivals for the regency, fearing their influence over nobles and populace.read · scan
Robert Burns, Poems and SongsVol. 6
- p. 50–52British ministers and parliamentary factions North, Fox, Rockingham and Shelburne contend for office.read · scan
- p. 52–54Ministers North, Fox and Pitt jostle for power, Pitt tossed about like a ball.read · scan
- p. 331–332Invocation of the ghost of Scotland's ministry, invoking a disunited state, Premier's pride and Senate strife.read · scan
- p. 333–334Political satire on ministers Dundas and the Portland party, their hopes and falls.read · scan
- p. 360–362Whig rule blamed for decay in church and state.read · scan
- p. 370–371Political factions, turncoat Whigs, and the Duke's support for a Regency.read · scan
- p. 375–377Mocks Parliament, taxes, Warren Hastings, and the Prince of Wales in a rhymed survey of news.read · scan
- p. 382–384Party politics of Pitt, Fox and the Whigs versus Tories; poet a cool spectator.read · scan
George Washington, Washington's Farewell AddressVol. 43
- p. 241Party spirit distracts public councils and weakens administration; especially dangerous in elective popular governments.read · scan
Ralph Waldo Emerson, PoliticsVol. 5
- p. 244Parties arise from instincts and real interests but are corrupted by leaders' personalities and momentary measures.read · scan
Ralph Waldo Emerson, English TraitsVol. 5
- p. 377They attack their politicians as adventurers and dislike timeservers or Trimmers in Parliament.read · scan
- p. 448The Times shapes policy, deciding poor-law, Corn Laws and ministries.read · scan
John Stuart Mill, AutobiographyVol. 25
- p. 37–38Bentham and James Mill shared views on ethics, government and law; Hume entered Parliament under his influence.read · scan
- p. 122Mill laments the lack of a philosophic parliamentary leader to instruct the public and lead the Radicals.read · scan
- p. 133Mill sought to rouse Radicals to become a party capable of taking government or dictating terms to the Whigs.read · scan
Richard Henry Dana, Jr., Twenty-Four Years AfterVol. 23
- p. 393Inauguration of a governor and a Senate where a caucus's political job is resisted.read · scan
Edward Augustus Freeman, Race and LanguageVol. 28
- p. 227Statesmen may find it expedient to profess popular sentiments; contrasts practical politics with professorial theory.read · scan
‹ 4 · Outline · 6 ›