ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 277 



ers of small dimension prove the foundations of the greatest mon- 

 archies. 



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 num- 

 ber of troops itself of any great service, where the soldiers are weak 

 and enervate : for, as Virgil well observes, " The wolf cares not how 

 large the flock is." 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, coun- 

 selled their general to fall upon them by night ; but he replied, " I will 

 not steal the victory " ; <* and it was found an easier conquest than he 

 expected. Tigranes, encamped upon a hill, with an army of four hun- 

 dred thousand men, seeing the Roman army, consisting but of four- 

 teen thousand, making up to him, he jested at it, and said, " Those 

 men are too many for an embassy, but much too few for a battle " : * 

 yet before sunset he found them enough to give him chase, with in- 

 finite slaughter. And we have abundant examples of the great inequal- 

 ity 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 state, that the people be of a military 

 race,/ or both by origin and disposition warlike. The sinews of war 

 are not money, if the sinews of men's arms be wanting, as they are in 

 a soft and effeminate nation. It was a just answer of Solon to Croesus, 

 who showed him all his treasure : " Yes, sir, but if another should come 

 with better iron than you, he would be master of all this gold." t And, 

 therefore, all princes whose native subjects are not hardy and military, 

 should make a very modest estimate of their power; as, on the other 

 hand, those who rule a stout and martial people, may well enough 

 know their own strength, if they be not otherwise wanting to them- 

 selves. As to hired forces, which is the usual remedy when native 

 forces are wanting, there are numerous examples, which clearly show, 

 that whatever state depends upon them, though it may perhaps for a 

 time extend its feathers beyond its nest, yet they will mew soon after. 



The blessing of Judah and Issachar can never meet ; so that the same 

 tribe, or nation, should be both the lion's whelp, and the ass under the 

 burden : * nor can a people, overburdened with taxes, ever be strong 

 and warlike. It is true, that taxes levied by public consent less dispirit 

 and sink the minds of the subject than those imposed in absolute gov- 

 ernments; as clearly appears by what is called excise in the Nether- 

 lands, and in some measure by the contributions called the subsidies 

 in England. We are now speaking of the minds, and not of the wealth 

 of the people: for tributes by consent, though the same thing with 

 tributes imposed, as to exhausting the riches of a kingdom, yet very 

 differently affect the minds of the subject So that this also must be 

 a maxim of state, " That a people oppressed with taxes is unfit to 

 rule." 



States and kingdoms that aspire to greatness, must be very careful 



