Born to Rule: Burlamaqui and Rousseau on the Education of Princes

The opening lines of Rousseau’s Principles of the Right of War, probably mainly written in 1755–1756,¹ gave a radical critique of the literary world of the time. Rousseau denounced the gap he noticed between what was generally taught in books on law and ethics and the reality people had to face in their everyday lives. He began: I open the books on right and on ethics; I listen to the scholars and jurisconsults and, moved by their ingratiating discourses, I deplore the miseries of nature, I admire the peace and justice established by the civil order, I bless the