execute, or may rightfully be compelled thereto (Sec. 4).

17. This right, which is determined by the power of a multitude, is
generally called Dominion. And, speaking generally, he holds dominion,
to whom are entrusted by common consent affairs of state -- such as the
laying down, interpretation, and abrogation of laws, the fortification
of cities, deciding on war and peace, &c. But if this charge belong to a
council, composed of the general multitude, then the dominion is called
a democracy; if the council be composed of certain chosen persons, then
it is an aristocracy; and if, lastly, the care of affairs of state and,
consequently, the dominion rest with one man, then it has the name of
monarchy.

18. From what we have proved in this chapter, it becomes clear to us
that, in the state of nature, wrong-doing is impossible; or, if anyone
does wrong, it is to himself, not to another. For no one by the law of
nature is bound to please another, unless he chooses, nor to hold
anything to be good or evil, but what he himself, according to his own
temperament, pronounces to be so; and, to speak generally, nothing is
forbidden by the law of nature, except what is beyond everyone's power
(Secs. 5 and 8). But wrongdoing is action, which cannot lawfully be
committed. But if men by the ordinance of nature were bound to be led by
reason, then all of necessity would be so led. For the ordinances of
nature are the ordinances of God (Secs. 2, 3), which God has instituted
by the liberty, whereby he exists, and they follow, therefore, from the
necessity of the divine nature (Sec. 7), and, consequently, are eternal,
and cannot be broken. But men are chiefly guided by appetite, without
reason; yet for all this they do not disturb the course of nature, but
follow it of necessity. And, therefore, a man ignorant and weak of mind,
is no more bound by natural law to order his life wisely, than a sick
man is bound to be sound of body.

19. Therefore wrong-doing cannot be conceived of, but under dominion --
that is, where, by the general right of the whole dominion, it is
decided what is good and what evil, and where no one does anything
rightfully, save what he does in accordance with the general decree or
consent (Sec. 16). For that, as we said in the last section, is
wrong-doing, which cannot lawfully be committed, or is by law forbidden.
But obedience is the constant will to execute that, which by law is
good, and by the general decree ought to be done.

20. Yet we are accustomed to call that also wrong, which is done against
the sentence of sound reason, and to give the name of obedience to the
constant will to moderate the appetite according to the dictate of
reason: a manner of speech which I should quite approve, did human
liberty consist in the licence of appetite, and slavery in the dominion
of reason. But as human liberty is the greater, the more man can be
guided by reason, and moderate his appetite, we cannot without great
impropriety call a rational life obedience, and give the name of
wrong-doing to that which is, in fact, a weakness of the mind, not a
licence of the mind directed against itself, and for which a man may be
called a slave, rather than free (Secs. 7 and 11).

21. However, as reason teaches one to practise piety, and be of a calm
and gentle spirit, which cannot be done save under dominion; and,
further, as it is impossible for a multitude to be guided, as it were,
by one mind, as under dominion is required, unless it has laws ordained
according to the dictate of reason; men who are accustomed to live under
dominion are not, therefore, using words so improperly, when they call
that wrong-doing which is done against the sentence of reason, because
the laws of the best dominion ought to be framed according to that
dictate (Sec. 18). But, as for my saying (Sec. 18) that man in a state
of nature, if he does wrong at all, does it against himself, see, on
this point, Chap. IV., Secs. 4, 5, where is shown, in what sense we can
say, that he who holds dominion and possesses natural right, is bound by
laws and can do wrong.

22. As far as religion is concerned, it is further clear, that a man is
most free and most obedient to himself when he most loves God, and
worships him in sincerity. But so far as we regard, not the course of
nature, which we do not understand, but the dictates of reason only,
which respect religion, and likewise reflect that these dictates are
revealed to us by God, speaking, as it were, within ourselves, or else
were revealed to prophets as laws; so far, speaking in human fashion, we
say that man obeys God when he worships him in sincerity, and, on the
contrary, does wrong when he is led by blind desire. But, at the same
time, we should remember that we are subject to God's authority, as clay
to that of the potter, who of the same lump makes some vessels unto
honour, and others unto dishonour. [5] And thus man can, indeed, act
contrarily to the decrees of God, as far as they have been written like
laws in the minds of ourselves or the prophets, but against that eternal
decree of God, which is written in universal nature, and has regard to
the course of nature as a whole, he can do nothing.

23. As, then, wrong-doing and obedience, in their strict sense, so also
justice and injustice cannot be conceived of, except under dominion. For
nature offers nothing that can be called this man's rather than
another's; but under nature everything belongs to all -- that is, they
have authority to claim it for themselves. But under dominion, where it
is by common law determined what belongs to this man, and what to that,
he is called just who has a constant will to render to every man his
own, but he unjust who strives, on the contrary, to make his own that
which belongs to another.

24. But that praise and blame are emotions of joy and sadness,
accompanied by an idea of human excellence or weakness as their cause,
we have explained in our Ethics.

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