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Even if, between state and family, the relationship were as close as several authors claim, it would not therefore follow that the rules of conduct which are suited to the one society would be appropriate for the other. They differ too greatly in size for them to be administered in the same way, and there will always be an enormous difference between domestic government, where the father is able to observe everything himself, and civil government, where the ruler can scarcely observe anything except through the eyes of others. In order for matters to be equal in this respect, it would be necessary for the father's talents and strength, and all his faculties, to increase in proportion to the size of his family, or for the soul of a powerful emperor and the soul of an ordinary citizen to be in the same ratio as his empire is to the estate of a private person.* But what resemblance could there be between governing the state and governing a family when the two are so differently based? A father being physically stronger than his children, his power over them, during the time that they need his help, is considered with reason to have been instituted by nature. In the greater family, in which all members are naturally equal, political authority is in respect of its institution purely arbitrary and can be founded only on conventions,*while the officers of the state can have command over others only by virtue of the laws. A father has his duties dictated to him by natural sentiments, and in a tone that seldom allows him to disobey.....
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THE SOCIAL CONTRACT
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