BOOK III PART II
in most cases, and as entirely subordinate to the
interests of peace and liberty. Where the public
good does not evidently demand a change; it is
certain, that the concurrence of all those titles,
original contract, long possession, present pos-
session, succession, and positive laws, forms
the strongest title to sovereignty, and is justly
regarded as sacred and inviolable. But when
these titles are mingled and opposed in dif-
ferent degrees, they often occasion perplex-
ity; and are less capable of solution from the
arguments of lawyers and philosophers, than
from the swords of the soldiery. Who shall
tell me, for instance, whether Germanicus, or
Drufus, ought to have succeeded Tiberius, had
he died while they were both alive, without
naming any of them for his successor? Ought
the right of adoption to be received as equiva-
lent to that of blood in a nation, where it had