The Spirit of Laws

“What I call virtue in a republic is love of the homeland, that is, love of equality. It is not a moral virtue or a Christian virtue; it is a political virtue, and this is the spring that makes republican governments move, as honor is the spring that makes monarchy move. Therefore, I have called love of the homeland and of equality political virtue.”

In the opening paragraph of his magnum opus, Montesquieu clearly defines a key term: virtue. Virtue is the principal operative in republican governments, i.e., democracies and aristocracies of varying types. Virtue is necessary for the proper functioning of republics. This is not to say that it is never found in monarchies, but it is not their necessary condition. Note: This forward was not included in the first edition of the book; it was added in 1757, presumably due to reader’s confusion regarding the idiosyncratic usage of “virtue” throughout the text.

In a time of ignorance, one has no doubts even while doing the greatest evils, in an enlightened age, one trembles even while doing the greatest goods.”

Montesquieu lived in an era of modern history now commonly referred to as the Age of Enlightenment, so named because many intellectuals and scholars of 18th-century Europe believed they were living in a time of great enlightenment. Montesquieu, a proponent of this enlightenment, understands the caution imperative in his academic endeavors, and puts forth his ideas not as certainties or eternal truths, but rather as tentative conclusions based on years of dedicated research. It is in this sense that Montesquieu “trembles” even as he embarks on a masterful political treatise.