CHAP. IV.: Of a Republic in the like Case.
WHEN a republic has reduced a nation to the drudgery of cultivating her lands, she ought never to suffer the free subject to have a power of increasing the tribute of the bondman. This was not permitted at Sparta. Those brave people thought the Helotes†472 would be more industrious in cultivating their lands, upon knowing that their servitude was not to increase: they imagined likewise that the
masters would be better citizens, when they desired no more than what they were accustomed to enjoy.