Description Montaigne?explores?”natural?law,”?often?describing?it?in?more?positive?terms?than?”positive?law.”?Positive?laws are?artificial?and?man?made,?and?they?are?applicable?only?to?a?specific?culture.?Positive?laws?assign?privileges and?rights?to?select?groups?and?individuals.?Natural?law,?on?the?other?hand,?is?universal?in?that?it?represents “inherent”?rights?conferred?upon?all?peoples,?cultures,?and?periods,?and?it?cannot?be?manipulated?by?humans. Thomas?Jefferson’s?”self?evident”?claim?that?”all?men?are?created?equal?with?rights?to?life,?liberty,?and?the?pursuit of?happiness”?(thereby?excluding?slavery?and?racism)?contrasts?with?positive?law?that?supports?particular property?rights?(allowing?slavery),?class?privileges,?punishment?laws,?etc. For?Montaigne,?natural?law?is?pure?and?infallible?and?humans?cannot?alter?or?corrupt?it.?If?Machiavelli’s?The Prince?articulates?a?model?of?positive?law?and?an?art?of?political?rule?where?the?”ends?justify?the?means”?in?an amoral?and?technical?way,?a?model?based?on?original?sin,?and?on?the?other?hand,?Montaigne’s?view?of?humanism is?based?on?universal?and?timeless?inherent?natural?laws?uncorrupted?by?man,?then?in?what?ways?do?Machiavelli agree?or?disagree?about?the?nature?of?mankind??And?further,?if?natural?law?exists?as?an?ideal?that?is?prior?to human?corruption,?how?and?why?does?Cervantes?present?that?ideal?in?the?master/slave?relation?between?Quixote and?Panza? In?a?750?word?MLA?formatted?essay?develop?a?thesis?with?plenty?of?examples?that?distinguishes?the?contrasts between?positive?and?natural?law,?between?Christian?(and?classical)?and?Machiavellian?concepts?of?virtue,?and the?role?of?irony?and?satire?as?narrative?devices?for?persuading?readers?of?the?priority?for?a?universal?conception of?natural?law?over?the?quixotic?futility?of?positive?law.