reason lies on the surface. Outside the free towns they had produced no
middle class; and their towns were neither numerous nor wealthy enough
to be important in national politics. They were not even represented in
the national assemblies. In consequence the sovereigns of these states
were obliged to govern by the help of aristocratic factions; to purchase
recognition by the grant of larger and larger privileges; and for the
sake of power to strip themselves of the resources which alone could
give their power any meaning. But good government in the Middle Ages was
only another name for a public-spirited and powerful monarchy. Such
monarchies existed in the western states; they rested upon the shoulders
of a middle class of small landowners and wealthy merchants, too weak to
defend themselves in a state of nature, a war of all against all, but
collectively strong enough to overawe the forces of anarchy.

It may seem strange that this class, which desired strong government for
purely practical and material reasons, should uniformly have accepted
hereditary kingship as the one form of government practicable in a large
community. Even where there was the warrant of tradition for recourse to
free election, the better governed states preferred that the supreme
power should pass automatically from father to son. The explanation is
to be found in the motives which prompted the Athenians, under widely
different circumstances, to choose their magistrates by lot. The grand
danger, to be avoided at all costs, was that a disputed succession would
leave the daily work of government in abeyance and open the door for
destructive party-conflicts. If continuity and stability of government
were assured, all would go well. The work of a ruler was not supposed to
demand exceptional abilities; he existed to do justice, to secure every
man in the possession of his own, to apply the law without respect of
persons. For these purposes a high sense of duty was the main requisite.
The wisest heads of the community would be at the king's service for the