A martial nobility and stubborn commons, possessed of arms, tenacious of property, and collected into constitutional assemblies form the only balance capable of preserving a free constitution against the enterprise of an aspiring prince. (Edward Gibbon)

A martial nobility and stubborn commons, possessed of arms, tenacious of property, and collected into constitutional assemblies form the only balance capable of preserving a free constitution against the enterprise of an aspiring prince.

Edward Gibbon

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arms aspiring balance commons constitution constitutional enterprise form free martial nobility preserving prince property stubborn

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