Strongest in battle or in ring,
And him they chose to be their king.'
Voltaire has exactly the same idea:
'Le premier roi fut un soldat heureux.'
This is the origin of royalty. The growth of feudalism, of armies, taxation, and division into classes is carefully traced from these small beginnings.
But he deduces the great law of charity and love for our neighbours. Having this, we have everything; and wanting this, we get wars, tyranny, and all the miseries of the world.
What is the nature of true gentility? Lineage, he explains, has nothing to do with it. None are gentle, but those whose virtues make them so. Ancestors may leave their wealth behind them, but not the qualities that made them great. Clerks have an advantage over unlettered persons in knowing what is right. If they are coarse and rude, they sin against greater light, and incur heavier punishment.
'Let him, who gentleman would be,
From sloth and idleness keep free;
In arms and study be employed,