Econlib

The Library

Other Sites

Front Page arrow Titles (by Subject) arrow LETTER CXXXIX.: Rica to the Same. - Complete Works, vol. 3 (Grandeur and Declension of the Roman Empire; A Dialogue between Sylla and Eucrates; Persian Letters)

Return to Title Page for Complete Works, vol. 3 (Grandeur and Declension of the Roman Empire; A Dialogue between Sylla and Eucrates; Persian Letters)

Search this Title:

Also in the Library:

Subject Area: Political Theory
Subject Area: History
Collection: Banned Books

LETTER CXXXIX.: Rica to the Same. - Charles Louis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu, Complete Works, vol. 3 (Grandeur and Declension of the Roman Empire; A Dialogue between Sylla and Eucrates; Persian Letters) [1721]

Edition used:

The Complete Works of M. de Montesquieu (London: T. Evans, 1777), 4 vols. Vol. 3.

Part of: Complete Works of Montesquieu, 4 vols.

About Liberty Fund:

Liberty Fund, Inc. is a private, educational foundation established to encourage the study of the ideal of a society of free and responsible individuals.


LETTER CXXXIX.

Rica to the Same.

THERE cannot be a greater example of conjugal affection, and that not in a private woman, but in a queen, than that which I now relate. The queen of Sweden being positively resolved that her husband should be her partner in the government, to remove all obstacles to this her purpose, sent a declaration to the states, whereby she renounces the regency, provided they elect him. Somewhat above sixty years ago, another queen, named Christina, abdicated the throne to devote herself entirely to philosophy. I do not know which of these examples should excite our admiration most. Though I would by all means have every body firmly maintain the post and dignity to which he has been raised by fortune; and though I cannot approve of the weakness of those, who finding themselves inferior to their station, basely forsake it by a sort of desertion; I am notwithstanding struck with the greatness of soul of these two queens, when I see that the mind in the one, and the heart in the other, were more elevated than their fortune. Christina aspired to know at a time when others think of nothing but the enjoyment of present pleasures; and the other desires to enjoy empire only with a view of putting it into the hands of her august husband.