From the History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

I ran into this line from Gibbon's The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire while reading it on the plane (no, I don't carry the volumes on me, but I have them on my IPhone's Kindle):  "Of the various forms of government which have prevailed in the world, an hereditary monarchy seems to present the fairest scope for ridicule.  Is it possible to relate without an indignant smile, that, on the father's decease, the property of a nation, like that of a drove of oxen, descends to his infant son, as yet unknown to mankind and to himself".  (Location 5874 of 90382).