intendeth[1], that it needeth not to be stood upon[2]. It is enough to point at it, That no Nation, which doth not directly[3] professe Armes, may looke[4] to have Greatnesse fall into their Mouths. And, on the other side, it is a most Certaine Oracle of Time[5], That those States, that continue long in that Profession (as the Romans and Turks principally have done) do wonders. And those that have professed Armes but for an Age have, notwithstanding, commonly attained that Greatnesse in that Age, which[6] maintained them long after, when their Profession and Exercise of Armes hath growen to decay.
Incident to this Point is, For a State to have those Lawes or Customes which may reach forth unto them iust Occasions[7] (as may be pretended)[8] of Warre. For there is that[9] Iustice imprinted in the Nature of Men, that they enter not upon Wars (whereof so many Calamities doe ensue) but upon some, at the least Specious, Grounds and Quarells[10]. The Turke hath at hand, for Cause of Warre, the Propagation of his Law or Sect, A Quarell that he may alwaies Command. The Romans, though they esteemed the Extending the Limits of their Empire to be great Honour to their Generalls when it was done, yet they never rested upon that alone to begin a Warre. First, therefore, let Nations that pretend to[11] Greatnesse have this; That they be sensible of[12] Wrongs, either upon Borderers[13], Merchants, or Politique Ministers[14]; And that they sit not[15] too long upon a Provocation. Secondly, let them be prest[16] and ready to give Aids and Succours to their Confederates: As it ever was with the Romans; In so much as[17] if the Confederate had Leagues Defensive with divers other States, and upon Invasion offered[18] did implore their Aides severally,
- ↑ every man makes most progress in that to which he mainly directs his mind
- ↑ insisted on
- ↑ avowedly
- ↑ may expect
- ↑ truth taught by history
- ↑ a greatness which
- ↑ which may supply it with just pretexts
- ↑ put forward
- ↑ such
- ↑ causes
- ↑ aim at
- ↑ sensitive to
- ↑ dependants on the border
- ↑ ministers of state
- ↑ that they do not sit still
- ↑ prompt
- ↑ that
- ↑ when threatened with invasion
