The Complete Works of Montesquieu. Electronic Edition. :: Volume I. ::

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Volume I.

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book I.: of laws in general.

book II.: of laws directly derived from the nature of government.

book III.: of the principles of the three kinds of government.

book IV.: that the laws of education ought to be relative to the principles of government.

book V.: that the laws, given by the legislator, ought to be relative to the principle of government.

book VI.: consequences of the principles of different governments with respect to the simplicity of civil and criminal laws, the form of judgements, and the inflicting of punishments.

book VII.: consequences of the different principles of the three governments, with respect to sumptuary laws, luxury, and the condition of women.

book VIII.: of the corruption of the principles of the three governments.

book IX.: of laws, in the relation they bear to a defensive force.

book X.: of laws, in the relation they bear to offensive force.

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book XI.: of the laws which establish political liberty, with regard to the constitution.

chap. I.: a general idea.

chap. II.: different significations of the word, liberty.

chap. III.: in what liberty consists.

chap. IV.: the same subject continued.

chap. V.: of the end or view of different governments.

chap. VI.: of the constitution of england.

chap. VII.: of the monarchies we are acquainted with.

chap. VIII.: why the ancients had not a clear idea of monarchy.

chap. IX.: aristotle’s manner of thinking.

chap. X.: what other politicians thought.

chap. XI.: of the kings of the heroic times of greece.

chap. XII.: of the government of the kings of rome, and in what manner the three powers were there distributed.

chap. XIII.: general reflections on the state of rome after the expulsion of its kings.

chap. XIV.: in what manner the distribution of the three powers began to change, after the expulsion of the kings.

chap. XV.: in what manner rome, in the flourishing state of that republic, suddenly lost its liberty.

chap. XVI.: of the legislative power in the roman republic.

chap. XVII.: of the executive power in the same republic.

chap. XVIII.: of the judiciary power in the roman government.

chap. XIX.: of the government of the roman provinces.

chap. XX.: the end of this book.

book XII.: of the laws that form political liberty, as relative to the subject.

book XIII.: of the relation which the levying of taxes and the greatness of the public revenues have to liberty.

book XIV.: of laws as relative to the nature of the climate.

book XV.: in what manner the laws of civil slavery are relative to the nature of the climate.

book XVI.: how the laws of domestic slavery have a relation to the nature of the climate.

book XVII.: how the laws of political servitude have a relation to the nature of the climate.

book XVIII.: of laws in the relation they bear to the nature of the soil.

book XIX.: of laws, in relation to the principles which form the general spirit, the morals, and customs, of a nation.

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All Collections > The Complete Works of Montesquieu. Electronic Edition. > Volume I. > body > book xviii.: of laws in the relation they bear to the nature of the soil. > chap. XXV.: childeric.

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The Complete Works of Montesquieu. Electronic Edition.

Volume I.

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BOOK XVIII.: OF LAWS IN THE RELATION THEY BEAR TO THE NATURE OF THE SOIL.

CHAP. XXV.: Childeric.

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CHAP. XXV.: Childeric.

“THE laws of matrimony, amongst the Germans, says Tacitus, are strictly observed.^†645 Vice is not there a subject of ridicule. To corrupt or be corrupted is not called fashion, or the custom of the age. There are few ^†646 examples, in this populous nation, of the violation of conjugal faith.”

This was the reason of the expulsion of Childeric: he shocked their rigid virtue, which conquest had not had time to corrupt.

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CHAP. XXV.: Childeric.