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Justice being taken away, then, what are kingdoms but great
robberies? For what are robberies themselves, but little kingdoms?
The band itself is made up of men; it is ruled by the authority of a
prince, it is knit together by the pact of the confederacy; the booty
is divided by the law agreed on. If, by the admittance of abandoned
men, this evil increases to such a degree that it holds places, fixes
abodes, takes possession of cities, and subdues peoples, it assumes
the more plainly the name of a kingdom, because the reality is now
manifestly conferred on it, not by the removal of covetousness, but by
the addition of impunity. Indeed, that was an apt and true reply
which was given to Alexander the Great by a pirate who had been
seized. For when that king had asked the man what he meant by keeping
hostile possession of the sea, he answered with bold pride, "What
thou meanest by seizing the whole earth; but because I do it with a
petty ship, I am called a robber, whilst thou who dost it with a
great fleet art styled emperor."
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