[ 257 ] Civics and Government GED ® TEST SOCIAL STUDIES FLASH REVIEW _____________ • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Use the quote below to answer the following question. 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, and that the bravest warriors and the wisest statesmen, relinquishing their natural right to empire, approach the royal cradle with bended knees and protestations of inviolable fidelity? —from The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Volume 1 by Edward Gibbon, Esq. Published in London in 1862 Which phrase from the excerpt provides the clearest example of the author’s viewpoint regarding a monarchy? a. various forms of government b. prevailed in the world c. the property of a nation d. like a drove of oxen