Chapter 5

Benjamin Constant, from "The Liberty of the Ancients Compared with That of the Moderns" ( I B19 )

some freedom and peace today, was totaily SpeechGiven at the Ath6n6e unknor.vn to the fre e nations of antiquity. Royal in Paris I know that there are writers who have Gentlemen, claimed to distinguish traces of it among some ancient peoples, in the Lacedaemonian repub- I wish to submit for your attention a fbw dis- lic fbr example, or amongst our ancestors the tinctions, sriil rather nen', befiveen two kinds Gauls; but they are mistaken. of libertl': tl-rese differences have thus far The Lacedaemonian government was a remained unnoticed, or at least insufficientll, monasdc aristocracv.and in no way a repre remarked. The first is the liberty the exercise sentative government. The power of the kings of rvhich \\'as so dear to the ancient peoples; was limited, but it was limited by the ephors, the second the one the enjoyment of v'hich is and not by rnen invested with a mission similar especiallyprecious to the modern nations. If I to that which election confers today on the am right, this investigation u'ill prove inter defenders of our iibcrties. The ephors, no esting fiom nvo different angles. doubt, though originally created by the kings, Firsdl'', the confusion of these two kinds of were elected b,v the people. But there were liberty has been amongst us, in the all too onlv five of them. Their authority was as much fhmous days of our revolution, the cause of religious as political; they even shared in the many an evil. France was exhausted by useless administration of government, that is, in the experiments, the authors of which, irritated by executive power. Thus their prerogative, Iike their poor success,sought to lbrce her to enjoy that of ahnost all popular magistrates in the the good she did not want) and denied her the ancient republics, fhr from being simply a good which she did want. barrier against tyranny, became sometimes Secondly, called as \\,.e are by our happi. itself an insuffbrable tyranny. revolution (I call it h"ppl', despite its excesses, The regime of the Gauls, which quite because I corrcentrate my attention on its resembled the one that a certain party would resuits) to enjoy the benefits ofrepresentative like to restore to us. was at the same time government, it is curious and interesdng ro theocratic and warlike. The priests enjoyed discover rvhy this fbrrn of government, the unlimited power. The rnilitary class or only one in the shelter of nhich lve could find nobiliry had markedly insolent and oppressive 16 Neqatipe nnd Positiye Freedoru

privileges; the people had no rights and no nlore or less compelled to pay heed. Norv safeguards. compare this liberty rvith that of the ancients. In Rome the tribunes had, up to a poinr, a The latter consisted in exercising collec- representative mission. Thet. $.ere the organs tivelr,.,but directl1,, several parts of the com- of those plebeians lvhom the oligarchy - r.r.hich plete sovereignw; in deliberating, in the public is the same in all ages- had submitted, in over- square, over war and pcace; in fonning throw'ing the kings, to so harsh a sla','erli The alliancesuith loreign governnrcnts:in voting people, horvever, exercised a large part of the laws, in pronouncing judgements; in examin- political rights directl),. The"v mct to \/ore on ing the accounts, the acts, the stewardship of the lalr's end to judge the patricians against the magistrates; in calling rhem to appear in rvhom charges had becn levelled: thus there front of the assembled people, in accusing, rvere, in Rome, only fbeble traces of a repre - condemning or absolving them. But if this rvas sentative system. r'vhat the ancients called libertv. thel' n4trli,,.O This system is a discoverv of the moderns, as compatible r.r'ith this collecti.,'e treedorn the and you will see,Gendemen, that the condition cornplete subjection of the individual to the of the human race in antiquity did not allorv lbr authority of the communitl'. You find among the introduction or establishment of an institu- them almost none of the enjoyments u'hich u'e tion of this nature. The ancient people could have just seen form part of the libertv of the neithcr feel the nccd for ir, nor appreciateirs modems. All private actions rvere submitted to advantages.Their social organization led them a sc\reresr.rrveillance. No importance r.as given to desire an entirely diflbrent licedom fiorn the to individual independence, neither in relation one rvhich this system grants to us. to opinions, nor to labour, nor, above all, to Tonight's lecture will be devote d ro religion. The right to choose one's ou'n reii- demonstrating this truth to you. gious aff,liation, a right rvhich we regard as one First ask yourselves, Gentlemen, w.hat an of the most precious, rvould have scemed to Englishman, a Frenchman, and a citizen of the the ancients a crime and a sacrilege. In the United States of America understand toda,v bv domains rvhich seem to us the most useftil, the the word 'liberw'. authoritv of the social bodv interposed itself For each of them it is the right to be sub and obstructed the r,r,illof individuals. Among jected or-rly to the larvs, and to be neither the Spartans, Therpandrus cor-rld r-rot add a arrested, detained, put to death or maltreated string to his lvre u'ithor-rtcausing oftbnce to the in ar-rytvay by the arbitrar-v r.vill of one or more ephors. In the most domestic of relations the individuals. It is the right of everlrone to public ar.rthority again intcrvenecl. The young express their opinion, choose a profbssion and Lacedaemonian could not visit his ner.v bride practise it, to dispose of properq,, and et.en to fieelr.. In Rome, the censors cast a searching abuse it; to comc and go rvithout permission, eve o\.er family life . The larvs rcgulated and r'vithout hal.ing to accounr for their customs) and as custonts touch on everything, rnotives or undertakings. It is everyone's right there u.as hardly anvthins rhat the laws did not to associate r,r..ithother individuals, either to regulate. discusstheir interests, or to profbss tire religion Thus among thc ancienrs the individual, r'vhicir the,v and their associates pref'er, or e\ren almost alu'avs soveleigr-rin public affairs, rl'as simplv to occupy their days or hours in a rv:r1. a slavein all his priiatc rclatior-rs.As tr citizen, r,r'hich is most compatible r.r.ith their inclina, he decided ()n perce lnd n ar; as private indi tions or r,vhims.Finall,v it is evervone's right to vicl,ral, he \\ i1s constr,rined, n.atched and exercise some influence on the administration represserl ir-rall his l-novernents; as a member of the government, either bi, electing all or par- of the collectivc borlr', he ir.rterrogated,dis- ticular officials, or through representations, r-r-rissctl.con.1cmnet1, beggared, exilecl, or sen- petitions, demanclsto lr'hich the authorities are rcn\ c\l r(, .lc.rih lrir nr.rgistratcsand supcriors; Negnt'ive ond Positipe Freedow I7 as a subject of the collective body he cor-rld conquerors, could still not la,v down their himself be deprived of his status, stripped of \\'eapons, lest they should themselves bc con his privileges, banished, put to death, b.v the quered. All had to buy their security, their discretionarl' u'ill of the rvhole to rvhich he independence, their u'hole existence at the belonged. Among the modems, on the con- price of r.r.'ar.This rvasthe constant interest, the trar\', the individual, independent in his private almost habitual occupation of the free states of lifb, is, el'en in the fieest of states, sovereign antiquity. Finall1,,by an equally necessaryrcsult onlr, in appearance. His sovereignn, is re ofthis rvay ofbeing, all these stateshad slaves. stricted and ahnost alr.a},5 511sp.nded. If, at The mechanical professions and even, among fixed and rare intervals, in r.r'hich he is again some nations, the industrial ones, were com surrounded by precautions and obstacles, he mitted to people in chains. exercises this sovereigntv, it is ahr.ar.s on1,v to The modern r.r'orld otTers us a completelv renounce it. opposing vie.,v.The smallest states of our dav I must at this point, Gentlemen, pause fbr a are incomparabiy larger than Sparta or than moment to anticipate an objection $'hich ma), Rome lvas over five centuries. Even the divi- bc ad.lresscdto me. Thcre sas in anuquin .r sion of Europe into several states is, thanks to republic u'here the enslavement of ir-rdividual the progress of enlightemlent) more apparent existence to the collective bod1. 11'nr l-rot i1s than real. While each people, in the past, complete as I have described it. This republic formed an isoiated famill', the born enemv of was the most falnous of all: r.ou r.r'illguess that other families, a rlass of hr-rman beings nor,v I am speaking of Athens. I shall return to it exists, that under diffbrent names and under later, and in subscribing to the truth of this different forms of social organization are fhct, I shall also indicate its cause.We shall see essentially homogeneous ir-rtheir nature . This lvhy,, of all the ancient states, Athens was the mass is strong enough to have nothing to fear one u'hich most resembles the modern ones. fiom barbarian hordes. It is sufficiently civi Everl.rvhere else social jurisdiction rvas unlim- lized to find -,1'ara burden. Its uniftrrm ten ited. The ancients, as Condorcet sa\rs,h"O t-to denc_vis tou'ards peace. r-rotion of individual rights. Men \\.ere) so to This difference leads to another one. War speak, mereit. machines, u,hose gears and cog- precedes commerce. War and commerce are u'heels were regulated b1' the lau'. The same onlv tw'o diffbrent means of achieving the subjection characterized the golden centuries same end, that of getting n'hat one rvants. of the Roman repr.rblic; dre individual was Commerce is sirnplv a tribute paid to the in some u.alr letl in the natiol, the citizen i' strength of the possessor by the aspirant to the ciq'. possession. It is an attempt to conquer, bv We shall no\\r trace this essential diffbrence mutual agreement, rvhat one can no longer betrveen the ancients and ourselves back to its hope to obtain through vioience. A man rvho source. rvas aiu'a,vsthe stronger rvouid never conceive All ancient republics rvere restricted to a the idea of commerce. It is experience, b1, narro\v territory. The most populous, the most proving to him that u.ar, that is the use of porverful, the most substantial among them, his strength against the strength of others, $'as not equal ir-rextension to the smallest of exposes him to a variew of obstacles and modern states.As an iner..itableconseque nce of defeats, that leads him to resort to commerce) their narrorv territorl., the spirit of these that is to a rnilder and surer means of engag republics u.as bcllicose; each people incessantlv ing the interest of others to agree to."vhat suits attacked their neighbolrrs or \\ras attacked b1, his ollrr. War is all impulse, commerce, calcu- them. Thus driren bv neccssin agaiust one lation. l{ence it fbllor.r'sthat an age must come another, the1,fbught or threatened each other in u.hich commerce reolaces lvar. We have constanthr Those u.ho had no ambition to be reached this age. IB Negatite nncl Positipe Freedoru

I do not ntean that amoltgst the ancients all profbssions, provide fbr all the needs of there were no trading peoples. Br-rt these socieqv. peoples were to some degree an exception to It is easv to sce, Gentlcnten, the inevitable the general rule. The limits of this lecture do outcorre of these diflbrences. not allow me to il|-rstrate all the obstacles Firsdy, the size of a countrv calrsesa corre r,vhich then opposed the progress of com- sponding decrease of the politrc;rl ir-nportance merce; ,vou knor.r' them as r,vellas I do; I shall allotted to each inclividual. The most obscure only mention one of them. republican of Sparta or Rome hacl power. Their ignorance of the compass meant that The same is not true of the simple citizen of the sailors of antiquitl' ah.vavshad to keep close Britain or of the United States. His pcrsonal to the coast. To pass through the pillars of influence is an imperceptible pi.rrt of the social I{ercules, that is, the straits of Gibraltar, rvas r.vill rvhich impresscs on the sor,ernments its considered the most daring of enterprises.The dire ction. Phoenicians and the Carthaginians, rhe most Secondl"', the abolition of slaverv has able of navigators, did not risk it until vcrv deprived the fiee populatron of ell the leisure Iate, and their example tbr long remained u'hich resulted liom the fhct rhlr slaves rook without imitators. In Athens, of n,hich u'e care of most of the n.ork. \\,-ithout the slave shall talk soon, the interest orr maritimc cnter- population ofAthens, 20,000 Athenians could prises rvas around 60 percent, r,vhile current never have spent everv dar' ,rt the public square interest rvas only 12 percent: that rvas horv in discussions. dangerous the idea of distant navigation Thirdlv. commerce docs rrot, like nar, leave seemed. in men's lives intervals of inactivinr The Moreover, if I couid permit myself a digres- c()nstant exercise of politicirl rights, the dailv sion which u.ould unfbrtunatelv prove too discussion of the affairs of the stirte, disagree- Iong, I r.vould shor,r'you, Gentlemen, through ments, confabr-rlations, thc u-hole cntollrage the details of the custorrts) habits, u,a\, of and rnovemer-it of flctior-rs, necessarv agita- trading r,vith others of the trading peoples of tions, the cornpulsorr. filling, if I may use antiquity, that their commerce was itself the term, of the lifb of the peoples of impregnated bi, the spirit of the age, b)' the antiquin', u'ho, u.ithout this resollrce atmosphere of r.var and hostiiir.v which sur rvould have languishcd under rhe rveight of rounded it. Commerce then was a luck1, ncci- painful inaction, u'ould onlv cause trouble dent, todav it is the normai state of things, the and fatigr,re to moclern nations, u'here each only aim, the universal tendencl', the true life individuai, occupied n'ith his specularions, of nations. They u'ant repose, and u'ith repose his enterprises, the pleasures he obtains or comfbrt, and as a source of comfort, industrl'. hopes for, does not rvish to bc distracted fron-r Every day '"var becomes a more ineffbctive them other than momentaril'u.,and as Iittle as means of satisfying their wishes. Its hazards no possible. longer oflbr to individuals benefits that match Finall,v, commerce inspires in men a vivid the results of peaceful u,ork and regular love of individual independence. Commerce exchanges. Among the ancients, a successful supplies their neecls, satisfies their desires, rvar increased both private and public rvealth vyithout the intervention of the authorities. in siaves,tributes and lands shared out. For the This intervention is almost alu'avs - and I do moderns, even a successiulrvar costs intbllibly not know I'h1, I say almost - this intervention more than it is r,vorth. is indeed alu.ays a trouble and an embarrass- Finally. thanks to commerce, ro religion, to ment. Ever\. time collective po\\'er rvishes to the n-roral and intellectual progress of the n-reddle u.itl-r private speculations, it harasses human race) there are no longer slavesamong the speculators. Et'ery time governments the European nations. Free men must exercise pretend. to do our orvn business, thel' do it Negative nitd Posi.tiveFreedotu 19 more incompetenth. ar-rdexpensivell' ,1-tut-tto'. people rlade the larvs,examined the behaviour of the rnagistrates, called Pericles to account "r'oulci. I said, Ger-rtlemen, that I u'or.rld return to fbr his conduct, sentenced to death the gen Athens, u4rose example might be opposed tcr erals u'ho had commanded the battle of some of mv assertions, but u'hich u'ill in fact the Arginusae. Simiiarlv ostracism, that legal confirm all of them. arbitrariness, extolled b), all the legislators Ather-rs,as I have alreadl' pointed out, \\'as of the age; ostracism, u'hich appearsto us, and of ali the Greek republics the most closelr, rightlv so, a revolting iniquiqr, proves that engaged in trade: thus it allo-"r'edto its citizer-rs the individual u,as much more subservient to ... :-c..:+^r, :-rdir 5l ldr\ r lr itlual liberrV rh.rn the suprernac_vof thc social body in Athens, Sparta or Rome . If I could enter into histori- than he is ir-rar-r1, of tl-re fiee states of Europe cal details, I u'ould shorv vou that, among the todav. Athenians, comrnerce had removed ser.eral It follou's fiom rvhat I have just indicated of the differences r'r,hich distinguished the that u.e can no longer enjoy the liberry of the ancient from the modern peoples. The spirit ancients, u4rich consisted in an active and con- of the Ather-rian merchants u'as similar to that stant participation in collective porver. Our of the merchants of our dar,s. Xenophon tells frecdon-r r"nust consist of peaceful enjol.ment us that during the Peloponnesian r'r'ar, thcv and private independence. The share which in moved their capitals fron.r the continent of antiquity e\/ervone held in national sover- Attica to place them on the islands of the eignqv rvas by no means an abstract presump- archipelago. Commerce had created among tion as it is in our o\\rn dar'. The rvili of each them the circulation of monev. In Isocrates individual had real influence: the exercise of therc are signs that bills of exchange $'ere this u'ill u,as a vivid and repeated pleasure. used. Obsen'e hovn' their customs resemble Consequentlt'the ancients were ready to make our ()\\''n. In their relations u.ith rvomen, yotr rlanv a sacrifice to preserve their political r.r'illsee, again I cite Xenophon, husbands, sat- rights and their share in the administration of isfied rvhen peace and a decorous fiiendship the state. Ever.vbodv, f-eelingn'ith pride all drat reignecl in their households, make allou'ances his suffrage was \vorth) fbund in this au,are- for the rvilb u'ho is too vulnerable betbre the ness of his personal importance a great com- Q'rann1,of nature , closc their eves to the irre pensatlon. sistible por'r.'erof passions, forgivc the first This compensation no longer exists for us u'eaknessand fbrget the second. In their rela- tocla1,.Lost in the multitude, the individual tions u'ith strangers, u.e shall see them extend- can almost never perceive the influence he ing the rights of citizenship to u'hoever rvould, exercises. Never does his r.r.iil impress itself b,v moving among them rvitl-r his famill', estab Lrpon the lr.hole; nothing confirms in his eles iish some trade or industrv. Finally, r'e shali be his own cooperation. struck by their excessive love of individual Thc exercise of political rights, therefore, independence. L.r Sparta, savs a philosopher, oflbrs us but a part of the pieasures that the the citizens quicken their step r.vhen thev are ancients fbund in it, u'hile at the samc time the called bv a magistratc; br.rtan Athenian *'ould progress of civilization, the commercial ten- be desperate ifhe u.ere thought to be depend dcrrcvoi-the agc. [he comnrrrrricafionanl()ngst ent on a magistrate. peoples, have infinitely multiplied and varied Hon'ever, as several of the other circum the mcans of persortalh,rppiness. stances u'hich determined the charactcr of It fbllorvs that u'e must be llr morc attached ancient nations existed in Athens as u'ell; as than the ancients to our individual independ- there u'as a slar,epopuiation and the territorv ence. For the ancients u'hen they sacrificed \\'asvery restricted; -,r'efind there too the traces that independence to their political rights, sac- of the liberty proper to the ancients. The rificed lcss to obtain more: while in making the 20 Neqative nnd. Positiye Freed.oru same sacrifice, we would give more to obtain the guarantees accorded by institutions to less. these oleasures. The aim of the ancients was the sharing of social power among the citizens of the same fatherland:this is what they calledliberty. The T":::::-?;j::j:,ff^lT:Y;::t:T::::::,t:- aimof themoderns isthe enjoyment of secu- ';,;i,,:;*;,i:,:,;:Ti#lll?j, 5ilr:d:"lT],:'.1'J rity in private pleasures; and they call liberty Press,1988), pp.309-17.