"Yea, verily! most worthy of a God; perhaps impossible even unto him."
"This very system hath our Lord ordained; it is the kingdom of heaven upon earth; it is the common Church of Jesus Christ whereby the regeneration of mankind must be secured."
There was a long silence after this, during which all seemed to be pondering on what Ammonius had said, and it was finally broken by Arius, who spoke as follows: "I do not get all of thy meaning. Why is it true that all human governments of necessity result in the slavery of the many to the few, and in their own ultimate destruction? Why can not wise and good men organize some form of government that may secure both permanency for itself and the prosperity of the people also?"
"Yea, tell us that," said Am-nem-hat, "and also inform us by what means Jesus designeth to avoid in his kingdom the net result which seemeth necessarily to overtake all human governments sooner or later?"
"The same considerations," said Ammonius, "may furnish an answer to both questions. But first let me ask of thy great learning, Am-nem-hat, whether any man hath proposed, or even conceived, of some form of human government which hath never yet been tried among mankind?"
"I think not," said the ancient. "Both Plato and Aristotle have indulged in the attempt to define all the possible forms that government might assume; but, even in the political dream which Plato calleth 'The Republic,' he faileth to specify any form or machinery of government which hath not been repeatedly tried and found to fail; only the results he dreams of are imaginary; the government he devised hath been vainly experimented upon by others."
"The Greek philosopher erred in his delineation of an ideal government both by omitting therefrom the power of faith as the controlling principle thereof, and by denying the sanctity of monogamic marriage. His 'Republic' is, therefore, nugatory, for liberty can not exist in any community at all unless it exists for all alike; and polygamy denies the liberty of half the human race by enslaving women. But thou truly sayest that every possible form of government hath been tried among men, and that all of them alike have failed to secure either permanency for themselves or the welfare of the people. Thou must see, therefore, that the universal failure of government dependeth not upon the form of it, nor upon the age, or clime, or nation in which it existeth; nor upon the religion, language, laws, nor customs of the people; for all forms of it have failed alike, in all ages, among all peoples, under all imaginable religions, languages, customs, and laws. Seemeth this conclusion to be just and true?"
"Yea," answered Am-nem-hat, "I can see no escape therefrom whatever."
"Then it surely followeth," said Ammonius, "that whatever may be the cause of this universal failure of government, it existeth in all of them alike, and worketh the destruction and failure of them all, independently of the form, religion, laws, customs, or other things in regard to which they differ one from another; for the cause of this failure must be common to all of them. Seemeth this conclusion a valid one to thee?"
"Verily," said the ancient. "The cause must be one common to all governments, or else we might find somewhere a government in which this cause did not exist and operate; and so find a government that possesseth permanency and secureth the welfare of the people. But there hath never been, and is not, such a government on earth. The cause of failure must be common unto all."