XXIX.19 On legislators
Aristotle wanted sometimes to satisfy his jealousy of Plato, and sometimes his passion for Alexander. Plato was indignant at the tyranny of the people of Athens. Machiavelli was full of his idol, the Duc de Valentinois. Thomas More, who talked more about what he had read than what he had thought, wanted to govern every state with the simplicity of a Greek city. [1] Harrington could see only the republic of England, while a flock of writers found disorder everywhere they did not see the crown. Laws always encounter the passions and prejudices of the legislator. Sometimes they pass right through them, and take on their color, sometimes they remain there and blend into them.