"...Is that despotism
     or absolute power...unlimited sovereignty,
     is the same in a majority of a popular assembly,
     an aristocratical council, an oligarchical junto,
and a single emperor, equally arbitrary, bloody,
and in every respect diabolical. Wherever it has resided
has never failed to destroy all records, memorials,
all histories which it did not like, and to corrupt
those it was cunning enough to preserve....."

I really like how the sound of the words sneaks up on me in this passage. On
the first quick read, the first five lines seem like a boring list of
socio-political jargon. But as I stare harder, I see the complex rhyming:
soverignty/assembly/arbitrary; aristocratical/oligarchical/diabolical. The
oddly positioned ellipse adds the interesting complication of at least one
unfinished thought.

Furthermore, I think the passsage is a thought-provoking statement in purely
philosophical terms, although the phrasing makes it very, very difficult to
unravel the "message." My interpretation is that that "unlimited
sovereignty," or total power, is a terrible thing in all of the many forms
in which it is manifested.  Maybe that isn't very original idea, but it's
certainly presented in a unique way.

Just my two (or three) cents,
Brennen Lukas

http://members.cox.net/blukas/frames_index.html

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