"One characteristic feature of Sidney's book associates him with Machiavelli. That is his celebration of warlike virtue and foreign conquest. Like Machiavelli, Sidney prefers imperialist Rome to nonexpansionist Sparta. He asserts that “That is the best government, which best provides for war.” Popular governments do this best, for their citizens are hardy and spirited, and there is a mutual rivalry for the honor that anyone may earn (II.15, II.22–23). But unlike Machiavelli, Sidney qualifies his imperialism with the requirement that a war of acquisition be a just war, carried on for a just cause and by just means."
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Politicians from EnglandExecuted peoplePhilosophers from EnglandDiplomats of the United KingdomPeople from London
Original Language: English
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Thomas G. West, 'Introduction', Algernon Sidney, Discourses Concerning Government (1996), p. xxii
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Algernon_Sidney
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Algernon Sidney
1623 – 1683
Algernon Sidney (also Sydney) (January 1623 – 7 December 1683) was an English politician, political theorist, and opponent of King Charles II of England.
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