Alexander Hamilton: "Tidak mungkin untuk membaca sejarah republik keci...

"Tidak mungkin untuk membaca sejarah republik kecil Yunani dan Italia tanpa merasakan sensasi ngeri dan jijik pada gangguan yang terus-menerus mereka gelisah, dan pada suksesi cepat revolusi di mana mereka disimpan dalam keadaan getaran terus-menerus antara ekstrem tirani dan anarki. . . perbaikan besar. . . entah tidak dikenal sama sekali, atau tidak sempurna diketahui oleh orang dahulu."

--- Alexander Hamilton

Versi Bahasa Inggris

It is impossible to read the history of the petty republics of Greece and Italy without feeling sensations of horror and disgust at the distractions with which they were continually agitated, and at the rapid succession of revolutions by which they were kept in a state of perpetual vibration between the extremes of tyranny and anarchy . . . great improvement . . . were either not known at all, or imperfectly known to the ancients.