Sublime

Ruthless in a pragmatic way, Ludovico cloaked his calculated cruelty with pretenses of courtesy, culture, and civility. Tutored by the distinguished Renaissance humanist Francesco Filelfo in painting and writing, he sought to legitimize his power and prestige, along with that of Milan, by attracting great scholars and artists to the Sforza court. H

foresee that if the peaceable empire of the majority be not founded amongst us in time, we shall sooner or later arrive at the unlimited authority of a single despot.

L’Etat au service des personnes ne doit ni les contraindre ni se servir d’elles comme d’instruments aveugles pour des fins qu’elles ignorent.

Any discussion of power would be incomplete without acknowledging Lord Acton's immortal law: Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely. That unalterable rule applies both to God and man.

Spinoza, là encore, n’a cessé de rappeler : l’État est fait « pour libérer l’individu de la crainte, pour qu’il vive autant que possible en sécurité, c’est-à-dire conserve, aussi bien qu’il se pourra et sans dommage pour autrui, son droit naturel d’exister et d’agir. (…) La fin de l’État est donc en réalité la liberté ». Mais la sécurité n’est pas

La folie des princes est la sagesse du Destin.

Many men dreamed at last of establishing above the cities a sort of sovereign power, which should look to the maintenance of order, and compel those turbulent little societies to live in peace. It was thus that Phocion, a good citizen, advised his compatriots m accept the authority of Philip, and promised them, at this price, concord and security.

where virtue is without genius, and genius without honor; where the love of order is confounded with a taste for oppression, and the holy rites of freedom with a contempt of law;