Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1827) Vol 1.djvu/35

CHAP. I.
----in enacting those laws which it was their interest as well as duty to maintain. But in proportion as the public freedom was lost in extent of conquest, war was gradually improved into an art, and degraded into a trade^[1]. The legions themselves, even at the time when they were recruited in the most distant provinces, were supposed to consist of Roman citizens. That distinction was generally considered, either as a legal qualification, or as a proper recompense for the soldier; but a more serious regard was paid to the essential merit of age, strength, and military stature^[2]. In all levies, a just preference was given to the climates of the north over those of the south : the race of men born to the exercise of arms, was sought for in the country rather than in cities ; and it was very reasonably presumed, that the hardy occupations of smiths, carpenters, and huntsmen, would supply more vigour and resolution than the sedentary trades which are employed in the service of luxury^[3]. After every qualification of property had been laid aside, the armies of the Roman emperors were still commanded, for the most part, by officers of a liberal birth and education; but the common soldiers, like the mercenary troops of modern Europe, were drawn from the meanest, and very frequently from the most profligate of mankind.

Discipline.That public virtue which among the ancients was denominated patriotism, is derived from a strong sense of our own interest in the preservation and prosperity of the free government of which we are members. Such a sentiment, which had rendered the legions of the republic almost invincible, could make but a very feeble impression on the mercenary servants of a des-

1. The poorest rank of soldiers possessed above forty pounds sterling, (Dionys. Halicarn.iv. 17.) a very high qualification, at a time when money was so scarce, that an ounce of silver was equivalent to seventy pound weight of brass. The populace, excluded by the ancient constitution, were indiscriminately admitted by Marius. See Sallust. de Bell. Jugurth. C.91.
2. Caesar formed his legion Alauda of Gauls and strangers : but it was during the license of civil war ; and after the victory he gave them the freedom of the city for their reward.
3. See Vegetius de Re Militari, 1. i. c. 2 — 7.