title: The Spirit of Laws (Great Books in Philosophy)
author: Baron Charles De Secondat Montesquieu
description: Text: English (translation)<br /> Original Language: French
zlib_text: 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ##
  
  
  _The Spirit of Laws_
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # Special Introduction
  
  
  MONTESQUIEU, Charles Louis Secondat de la Brède, was born at the Château de la
  Brède, near Bordeaux, in the month of January, 1689. He lived sixty-six years,
  and died on the tenth day of February, 1755. If we should omit his literary
  performances from the record of his life, and consider his existence apart
  from his books, the record would end here, and it might be said of him, as has
  been justly said of some royal personages, that he was born, he lived and he
  died. Not only was that life uneventful, but it was studiously shut off from
  the public eye. He shrank from those who would peer into his privacy, and
  reserved that part of himself for his family and his friends. He loved fame,
  that is, the honorable repute that grew out of the intellectual productions
  with which he enriched the world. Apart from these, as Horace, whom he
  resembled in many ways, has said of himself: "He sought the secret way 