The Social Contract once wrote:
Since no one has any natural authority over his fellow man, and force alone cannot create authority, all legitimate power in the world must be founded upon agreement.
Grotius said, "If an individual can surrender his freedom and become a master's slave, why can't an entire people surrender their freedom and submit to a monarch?"
Several meanings had been confused in that simple statement.
For someone to hand himself over to another for no reason at all, without asking for a single penny, would be an unimaginably absurd act. No sane person would behave so madly, much less an entire nation.
Napoleon had driven France mad. Wherever he went, people lined the streets to welcome him. The victories he won through force gave him prestige, and his command of the military gave rise to power.
But power born of force and victory was not effective in the long term. "Legitimacy" was the key.
During the Middle Ages, the kings of France gained "legitimacy" through the divine right of kings. Now that divine authority had been overthrown, what could make power "legitimate"?
Pomona found even pondering such questions far more pleasant than meeting Josephine at the Paris Botanical Garden. In the future, someone like Edward Jenner would deserve state-guest treatment. Naturally, the First Consul and his wife would have to appear.
But for now, he was still an obscure nobody rejected by Britain's academic circles. The Bonapartes could not receive him with the same ceremony afforded Peter the Great, and Josephine had appeared in casual attire as well. Though light and simple, she remained elegant, every step overflowing with charm.
When Jenner was young, he had enjoyed collecting specimens of various plants and animals. The Paris Botanical Garden had quite a few plants collected from Egypt,