'the art of temporal government'

THIRD PRIEST
I see nothing quite conclusive in the art of temporal government,
But violence, duplicity and frequent malservation.
King rules or barons rule:
The strong man strongly and the weak man by caprice.
They have but one law, to seize the power and keep it,
And the steadfast can manipulate the greed and lust of others,
The feeble is devoured by his own.

—T.S. Eliot, Murder in the Cathedral (1935, 4th ed. 1938)