The PREFACE.

Laws given to others either do, or should, offer some benefit. But just as the local laws original: "Municipal Laws," referring to the specific laws of a city or state of every city primarily focus on the benefit of that specific city, there are likewise some laws agreed upon by common consent among all—or at least most—cities. These laws do not respect the benefit of those specific cities, but rather the benefit of all in general. The Law of Nations. This is what we call the Law of Nations, whenever we distinguish it from the Law of Nature. This distinction was omitted by Carneades Carneades (c. 214–129 BC) was a skeptic philosopher who famously argued that there is no natural law and that all laws are merely based on utility. in his division of all laws into only "Natural" and "Civil." However, since he was discussing the rights that exist between nations (focusing his discourse on war and things acquired through war), he should have specifically mentioned this Law of Nations.

To neglect our own profit in obedience to the Laws of Nature or Nations is Wisdom.

But when he slanders original: "traduceth" justice by calling it "folly," he is wrong. By his own admission, a citizen is no fool for observing the civil laws of the city where he lives, even if he passes up something profitable out of respect for those laws. Likewise, a people is not foolish for valuing their own private gain less than the laws common to all (or most) nations. The reasoning is the same for both. For anyone who violates the laws of their country for immediate profit does their best to destroy the very thing that should permanently defend them and their belongings. In the same way, a people who violate the Laws of Nature and Nations only tear down the fortifications original: "Bulwarks" that ought to secure their own future peace and safety. And why. Book 9. As Marcus Aurelius original: "M. Antoninus" well observes: any action that does not aim, either directly or indirectly, at the good of the community original: "Common-wealth" takes away its life by dissolving the connection between its parts. Such an action is no less rebellious than a person who leads a faction to split from the body of the people. For one man separated from another cannot help but be separated from mankind in general. Proverb. For, what is good for the hive is also good for the bee original Latin: "Quod examini expedit idem & Api". Similarly, what is profitable to the community is likewise profitable to every citizen.

Therefore, even if we could expect no personal profit at all from conforming to the law, it would still be a matter of wisdom rather than folly to allow ourselves to be led where the guidance original: "manuduction," literally "leading by the hand" of nature takes us. Consequently, it is not entirely true that:

Coercive Laws invented for mutual defense.

This suggests that men are forced to be just only out of fear of punishment. However, that idea applies only to those specific laws and constitutions created to help enforce the Law of Nature. For example, when a multitude of people—finding themselves unable to defend themselves individually—unite their common forces to establish and defend laws and courts. These institutions punish those who try to oppress them, so that what the people cannot do alone, they can achieve through united strength. In this sense, we can well understand the common saying that: