ABSTRACT
This chapter suggests that for experimental political scientists, the classical republican tradition comes to an end with the political science of David Hume. The aristocratic government of Venice was, to be sure, a constitutional aristocracy. There were many reasons for the classical republican preference for aristocracy on the Venetian model: the wisdom and moderation of those invested with authority, its mixture of aristocracy with elements of monarchy and democracy, its use of the secret ballot and the rotation of offices. The important influence exerted by republican government on life in society was its tendency to promote a system of law. In order for men to live in society at all, it was necessary, Hume believed, that they should be capable of arriving at an agreement of judgments which take the form of conventions or laws. Hume's most extended critique of the politics of ancient Greece and ancient Rome appears in his discourse "Of the Populousness of Ancient Nations."
