In all the cases described,—to which we may add violent conquest by a migratory body, leaving only garrisons and governors behind it[227],—the family or tribe which are the ruling tribe, are those in whom the highest rank, dignity, nobility and power are inherent: but unless some peculiar circumstances, arising within the ruling tribe itself, limit the succession to the members of one household, as for example among the Jews, the sanctity of the tribe will be general and not individual. They will be alone qualified to hold the high and sacred offices; but the will of the whole state[228], _i. e._ popular election, must determine which particular man shall be invested with their functions. Out of the noble race the election cannot indeed be made, but the choice of the individual noble is, at first, free. This is the simplest mode of stating the problem: history however is filled with examples of compromise, where two or more noble tribes divide the supreme authority in even or uneven shares: two kings, for instance, represent two tribes of Dorians in the Spartan πολιτεια[229]. The seven great and hereditary ministerial houses in the German empire, the five great Ooloos of the Dooraunee Afghans, with their hereditary offices, represent similar facts. Among the old Bavarians, the Agilolfings could alone hold the ducal dignity, but three or four other families possessed a peculiar nobility, raising them nearly as much above the rest of the nobles, as the nobles were raised above the rest of the people. Under these circumstances the attributes of sovereignty may be continually apportioned: to one family it may belong to furnish kings or judges; to another, generals; to a third, priests[230]; or this division may have arisen in course of time, within a single family. Or again, the general may only have been chosen, _pro re nata_, when the necessity of the case required it, from among the judges or priests, or even from among those who were not capable by birth of the judicial or sacerdotal power. We are able to refer to an instance in support of this assertion; Beda[231] says of the Oldsaxons, that is, the Saxons of the continent: “Non enim habent regem iidem antiqui Saxones, sed satrapas plurimos, suae genti praepositos, qui, ingruente belli articulo, mittunt aequaliter sortes, et quemcumque sors ostenderit, hunc tempore belli ducem omnes sequuntur, huic obtemperant; peracto autem bello, rursum aequalis potentiae omnes fiunt satrapae.” And this throws light upon what Tacitus asserts of the Germanic races generally[232]: “Eliguntur in iisdem conciliis et principes, qui iura per pagos vicosque reddunt.” ----- Footnote 227: A fact abundantly familiar in the history of India, whether under Afghan, Mogul or Mahratta rule. Footnote 228: