This is so evident that
Barclay himself- that great assertor of the power and sacredness of
kings- is forced to confess that it is lawful for the people, in
some cases, to resist their king, and that, too, in a chapter
wherein he pretends to show that the Divine law shuts up the people
from all manner of rebellion. Whereby it is evident, even by his own
doctrine, that since they may, in some cases, resist, all resisting of
princes is not rebellion. His words are these: "Quod siquis dicat,
Ergone populus tyrannicae crudelitati et furori jugulum semper
praebebit? Ergone multitudo civitates suas fame, ferro, et flamma
vastari, seque, conjuges, et liberos fortunae ludibrio et tyranni
libidini exponi, inque omnia vitae pericula omnesque miserias et
molestias a rege deduci patientur? Num illis quod omni animantium
generi est a natura tributum, denegari debet, ut sc. vim vi repellant,
seseque ab injuria tueantur? Huic breviter responsum sit, populo
universo negari defensionem, quae juris naturalis est, neque
ultionem quae praeter naturam est adversus regem concedi debere.
Quapropter si rex non in singulares tantum personas aliquot privatum
odium exerceat, sed corpus etiam reipublicae, cujus ipse, caput est-
i.
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