After the passing of King Stephen the Brave, under whose wise and gentle rule the land flourished as it never had before, the crown passed to his second son (as the eldest had perished while hunting), whom history remembers as Robert the Foul. Robert was a winebibber and a whoremonger, quick to anger and slow to forgive, and he both impoverished the country with his profligacy and tormented the nobility and the peasantry with his cruelty, until at last a conspiracy of nobles brought the King’s cup-bearer into their confidence, and they mixed the shavings of a poisonous mushroom into his wine.

In the aftermath, before the coronation of Robert’s successor, the nobles gathered together and considered what they could do to prevent the throne from falling again into such unworthy hands. And they reasoned that the Grand Duke, who had led the conspiracy against Robert the Foul, should take up this burden and swear a holy oath that if the king should fall into madness or wickedness he would take action against him and save the kingdom from his depredations.

And as they made this decree, a hermit from the mountains of the east appeared at the door of their council chamber and asked them, “But what should happen if the Grand Duke himself becomes wicked?” And they answered that it was inconceivable that the Grand Duke should fall into wickedness, given the nobility with which he had acted against Robert the Foul and the illustriousness of his lineage, and they drove the hermit out with fists and curses.

But it happened during the reign of Cedric the Meek, who was an unexceptional but well-respected king, that the Grand Duke conspired against him to take the throne for his own line. He invoked his ancient hereditary right to act against a wicked king and, naming invented crimes which Cedric had supposedly committed, which led a conspiracy of avaricious nobles to force out Cedric and put his own nephew on the throne. And what followed was a bitter civil war, in which the Grand Duke was only put down with greatest difficulty, and the kingdom was much dishonored in the eyes of its neighbors.

In the aftermath, before the coronation of the Grand Duke’s successor, the nobles gathered together and considered what they could do to prevent the Grand Duke from ever abusing his power to check the king. And they reasoned that the Archbishop, who had comforted the souls of those faithful to Cedric during the darkest times of the civil war, should take up this burden, and should rally all the forces of the Church against the Grand Duke should he ever overstep his role as the guardian of the king.

And as they made this decree, a hermit from the mountains of the east appeared at the door of their council chamber and asked them, “But what should happen if the Archbishop himself becomes wicked?” And they answered that it was inconceivable that an Archbishop should fall into wickedness, given the fire of God which was evident in his heart and the high office which he had attained, and the drove the hermit out with fists and curses.

But it happened during the reign of James the Lesser that the King, the Grand Duke, and the Archbishop conspired together to tyrannize the nobles. They spent the royal treasury on fruitless wars against their neighbors, spilled the blood of their kin and countrymen with indifference, and suppressed every attempt to correct them, for each of them had been charged with the oversight of one of the others. And after the armies of the land were ground into dust, the remaining nobles made a pact with the merchants and craftsmen of the cities to overthrow the tyranny of the Triumvirate, though with great loss of blood and treasure.

In the aftermath, with King, Duke, and Archbishop all executed and the honor of their offices thrown into disarray, they petty nobles and great men of the cites gathered together to proclaim a formation of a Parliament in which all men of noble character could come and cast their vote. And they reasoned that such a gathering of noble men could never fall into folly and treachery as the Triumvirate had, especially since it was the combined might of those classes which had forced out the wicked autarchs.

And as they made this constitution, a hermit from the mountains of the east appeared and asked them, “But what should happen if the Parliament itself falls into wickedness?”

And one of the eldest of the nobles, who had been a child during the reign of Cedric and remembered the counsel of the hermits from that time, asked the man, “Thrice you have troubled us with your warnings of failure when we have endeavored to preserve the future of the nation. Tell me, why do those of your order always appear at our door to warn us when we attempt to create a bulwark against the exercise of evil?”

And the hermit answered, “Because you deceive yourselves when you think that evil is found in the form of government and not in the hearts of men. You set men to guard other men, and so increase the number of offices in which evil may take root. But this is folly: there is no constitution so noble that it will not be perverted should wicked men hold its offices.”

“Then what would you have us do to prevent the abuse of power by wicked kings, dukes, and archbishops?”

“When evil men hold power, it is the duty of all righteous men to oppose them, and to seek their removal. But this duty cannot itself be made the charge of any title or office, for once you have done so, you have merely created another tool by which a wicked man may exercise his depravity under the guise of good. Even your noble selves may fall prey to this error.”

Thus the Parliament was incensed and drove the hermit out with curses and fists.

But it happened thereafter that the nobles became indolent and self-possessed, and they ceased to look after the good of the commonweal, and the hearts of the merchants and the craftsmen were united against them, and prophets and demagogues arose in the cities and the countryside and stirred up the people to envy and wrath. And there followed the Time of Troubles, in which many were united for the overthrow of king and parliament entire, and others were united to protect their ancient privileges and customs. Terrible battles were joined, and provinces were burned, and terror overtook the streets of the capital, and the gutters ran with blood.

And in the end the most radical and inflexible prevailed, and the privileges of suffrage were extended to all, and the hereditary Parliament was replaced with a universal democracy. And they declared that such a system of government could never fall into avarice and short-sightedness as the nobles had, for it was absurd to imagine that the will of the people themselves could fall into depravity.

But when they signed the final acts of the new constitution in that hall where previously the nobles had joined each other against the wicked king, there was a silence that came over them, as if that place expected something which it remembered from generations past. But the silence went on and was filled by nothing except the chants of the revolution heard through the window, for the hermits of the east had all been killed in the Troubles, and their counsel was not heard in that place again.