340 ADVANCEMENT OP LEARNING. [fcOOK Vlll, 



1 be number of inhabitants may be known by valuation or 

 tax, and the number and extent oi cities and towns, by sur 

 vey and maps ; yet in all civil affairs there is not a tiling 

 more liable to error than the making a true and intrinsic 

 estimate of the strength and riches of a state. The kingdom 

 ot heaven is compared, not to an acorn, or any large nut, but 

 to a grain of mustard-seed ; which, though one of the least 

 grains, has in it a certain quick property, and native spirit, 

 whereby it rises soon, and spreads itsell wide : so some stated 

 of very large compass are little suited to extend their limits, 

 or procure a wider command, whilst others ot small dimen 

 sion prove the foundations of the greatest monarchies. 



Fortified towns, well-stored arsenals, noble breeds of war- 

 horses, armed chariots, elephants, engines, all kinds of artillery, 

 arms, and the like, are nothing more than a sheep in a lion s 

 skin, unless the nation itself be. from its origin and temper, 

 stout and warlike. Nor is number of troops itself of any 

 great service, where the soldiers are weak and enervate : for, 

 as Virgil well observes, &quot; The wolf cares not how large the 

 flock is.&quot; c The Persian army in the plains of Arbela, ap 

 peared to the eyes of the Macedonians as an immense ocean 

 of people ; insomuch that Alexander s leaders, being struck 

 at the sight, counselled their general to fall upon them by 

 night ; but he replied, &quot; I will not steal the victory :&quot; d and 

 it was found an easier conquest than he expected. Tigranes, 

 encamped upon a hill, with an army of four hundred thou 

 sand men, seeing the Roman army, consisting but of fourteen 

 thousand, making up to him, he jested at it, and said, &quot; Those 

 men are too many for an embassy, but much too few for a 

 battle :&quot; c yti; before sunset he found them enough to give him 

 chase, with infinite slaughter. And we have abundant exam 

 ples of the great inequality betwixt number and strength. 

 This, therefore, may be first set down as a sure and certain 

 maxim, and the capital of all the rest, with regard to the 

 greatness of a stute, that the people be of a military race, 1 

 or both by origin and disposition warlike. The sinews of 

 war are not money, if the sinews of men s arms be wanting, 

 -* they are in a soft and effeminate nation. It was a just 

 Answer of Solon to Croesus, who showed him all his treasure : 



* Eclog. vii. 52. d Quintns Curtius, iv. 15, and Plutarch. 



LucuL Machi Dlscorso sopra Livi &amp;gt;, lib. ii. 



