And the constitution of the Senate
and the people being shown, you have that of the Parliament of
Oceana, consisting of the Senate proposing, and of the people
resolving, which amounts to an act of Parliament. So the
Parliament is the heart, which, consisting of two ventricles, the
one greater and replenished with a grosser matter, the other less
and full of a purer, sucks in and spouts forth the vital blood of
Oceana by a perpetual circulation. Wherefore the life of this
government is no more unnatural or obnoxious upon this score to
dissolution than that of a man; nor to giddiness than the world;
seeing the earth, whether it be itself or the heavens that are in
rotation, is so far from being giddy, that it could not subsist
without motion. But why should not this government be much rather
capable of duration and steadiness by motion? Than which God has
ordained no other to the universal commonwealth of mankind:
seeing one generation comes and another goes, but the earth
remains firm forever, that is, in her proper situation or place,
whether she be moved or not moved upon her proper centre. The
Senate, the people, and the magistracy, or the Parliament so
constituted, as you have seen, is the guardian of this
commonwealth, and the husband of such a wife as is elegantly
described by Solomon: "She is like the merchant's ships; she
brings her food from far.
Pages:
274
275
276
277
278
279
280
281
282
283
284
285
286
287
288
289
290
291
292
293
294
295
296
297
298