The spirit of commerce... renders every man willing to live on his own property...& prevents the growth of luxury.
Virtue has needs of limits.
Republics come to an end by luxurious habits; monarchies by poverty.
This punishment of death is the remedy, as it were, of a sick society.
In a republic there is no coercive force as in other governments, the laws must therefore endeavor to supply this defect.
The harshest tyranny is that which acts under the protection of legality and the banner of justice.