But the new nations into which the
empire has been divided have never been, at any moment, without
political or governmental organization, continued from the
constitution of the conquering tribe or nation, modified more or
less by what was retained from the empire.
It is not pretended that the constitutions of states cannot be
altered, or that every people starts with a constitution fully
developed, as would seem to be the doctrine of De Maistre. The
constitution of the family is rather economical than political,
and the tribe is far from being a fully developed state.
Strictly speaking, the state, the modern equivalent for the city
of the Greeks and Romans, was not fully formed till men began to
build and live in cities, and became fixed to a national
territory. But in the first place, the eldest born of the human
race, we are told, built a city, and even in cities we find
traces of the family and tribal organization long after their
municipal existence--in Athens down to the Macedonian conquest,
and in Rome down to the establishment of the Empire; and, in the
second place, the pastoral nations, though they have not
precisely the city or state organization, yet have a national
organization, and obey a national authority. Strictly speaking,
no pastoral nation has a civil or political constitution, but
they have what in our modern tongues can be expressed by no other
term.
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