Distrust and jealousy, on the part of the
prince, come in aid of his ignorance and incapacity; and these causes
operating together, serve to destroy the very foundation on which his power
is established. Any undisciplined rout of armed men passes for an army,
whilst a weak, dispersed, and unarmed people are sacrificed to military
disorder, or exposed to depredation on the frontier from an enemy, whom the
desire of spoil, or the hopes of conquest, may have drawn to their
neighbourhood.
The Romans extended their empire till they left no polished nation to be
subdued, and found a frontier which was every where surrounded by fierce
and barbarous tribes; they even pierced through uncultivated deserts, in
order to remove to a greater distance the molestation of such troublesome
neighbours, and in order to possess the avenues through which they feared
their attacks. But this policy put the finishing hand to the internal
corruption of the state. A few years of tranquillity were sufficient to
make even the government forget its danger; and, in the cultivated
province, prepared for the enemy a tempting prize and an easy victory.
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