historical and political thought in the seventeenth - RePub - Erasmus ...

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Chapter 3. Biography
archy leads to the implicit message that concord is best guaranteed in a form
of government where one man is in control and makes all the decisions. 116
An important asset for this one man, the prince, to have is knowledge
of history, for through it he can get insight into human actions and obtain
political prudence. 117 Burgersdijk holds that a prince should not only acquire
knowlegde of ancient history but also of modern history and especially of
‘the history of his kingdom and his ancestors’, a category of history that we
perhaps may somewhat anachronistically call ‘national’ history. 118 From the
importance that Burgersdijk attributes to the possession of historical knowledge
we can deduce that history should be a part of the ‘good education’ of
the prince, which, together with ‘noble birth’ makes ‘for a virtuous prince’. 119
Despite his preference for a monarchy, Burgersdijk is a constitutional
relativist. Monarchy is not always the best form of government. Somewhat
contrary to Lipsius, who reasoned that because of human weakness there
was need of a virtuous prince, Burgersdijk holds that ‘when we take human
weakness into account, it is not always expedient to prefer a monarchy above
other forms of government. Because often the subjects’ innate character cannot
endure a monarchy. In that case, it is even dangerous to place the highest
power in the hands of one person’. 120 Depending on the circumstances, even
a democracy, which Burgersdijk classifies as ‘the most imperfect form of government’,
‘must often be preferred to other forms of government’. 121
In the final chapter of the Idea doctrinae politicae, where the mixed forms of
government are discussed, other forms of government are praised. There we
read that the mixture of monarchy and aristocracy ‘seems to be the most outstanding
form of government. For it has the advantages of both, and the remedies
against the evils, which must be feared in each of them separately’. 122 The
116 For a more elaborate and somewhat different explanation of the relationship between monarchy
and concord in Burgersdijk’s political thought, see Blom, “Felix qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas: Burgersdijk’s
Moral and Political Thought”, pp. 139-40.
117 Ibidem, III.8-9, pp. 21-23.
118 Ibidem, III.10, pp. 23-24. ‘Neque vero satis est antiquam historiam, Graecorum & Romanorum
didicisse: sed etiam moderna cognescenda. Imprimis debet ad unguem tenere historiam regni sui ac
majorum suorum: Ut ex consiliis & factis aliorum, colligat quid sibi sit faciendum.’
119 Blom, “Felix qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas: Burgersdijk’s Moral and Political Thought”, p. 141.
120 Burgersdijk, Idea politica, II.2, pp. 9-10. ‘Monarchia est status simplicissimus maximeque ordinatus:
ideoque natura sua firmissimus. Quin etiam haec gubernatio facilior est, faciliusque finem suum assequitur.
Attamen habita ratione humanae imbecillitatis, non semper expedit aliis Reip. formis monarchiam
praeferri. Saepe enim subditorum indoles monarchiam ferre nequit. Tum etiam periculosum summam rei
versari in uno capite.’
121 Ibidem, XXIII.2, pp. 202-3. ‘Democratia est status natura sua imperfectissimus quia longissime
recedit ab unitate. Et tamen propter singulas circumstantias, saepe caeteris praeferendus est.’
122 Ibidem, XXIV.2, pp. 210-11. ‘Status Monarchicus cum Aristocratia mistus, omnium videtur praestantissimus.
Habet enim utriusque commoda, & remedia iis malis opposita, quae ex utroque seorsim
metuenda sunt.’