CHAPITRE II.

Of the first Societies.

The most ancient of all societies and the only natural one is that of the family. Even then, children remain bound to the father only for as long as they need him for their own preservation. As soon as this need ceases, the natural bond is dissolved. The children, exempt from the obedience they owed the father, and the father, exempt from the care he owed the children, return all equally to independence. If they continue to remain united, it is no longer naturally, it is voluntarily; and the family itself is maintained only by convention.

THIS common liberty is