licit employment in the military as much as it
now does the civil service of the state; and we should be
able to pick and choose our men. What frightens me in the
matter is the expense."

"Ah! Monsignore, you know a really good article is never to
be had cheap. The Pontifical Government has 15,000 soldiers
for L400,000. France would pay half as much again for them:
but then she would have the value of the extra cost. The men
who have completed three or four terms of service, are those
who cost the most money; and yet there is an economy in
keeping them, because every such man is worth three
conscripts. Do you then, or do you not, wish to create a
national force? Have you made up your mind on the subject?
If you do wish for it, you must pay for it, and make the
sacrifices necessary to obtain it. If, on the contrary, your
Government prefers economy to security, begin by saving the
L400,000, and sell to some foreign country the 15,000
muskets, more dangerous than useful, since you don't know
whether they are for you or against you. The question may be
summed up in two words: safety, which will cost you money;
or economy, which may cost you your existence!"

"You are proposing an army of Praetorians."

"The name is not the thing. I only promise you that if you pay your
soldiers well, they'll be faithful to you."

"The Praetorians often turned against the Emperors."

"Because the Emperors were silly enough to pay them ready money."

"But is there no motive in this world nobler than interest? And is
money the only lasting tie that binds soldiers to their standard?"

"I should not be a Frenchman, if I held such a belief. I
advised you to increase your soldiers' pay, because hitherto
your army has been recruited by money alone; and also
because money is that which it costs you the least to
obtain, and consequently that which you will the most
willingly part with. Well then, now that you have given me
the few millions I required for the purpose of attaching
your soldiers to the Pontifical Government, furnish me with
the means of raising them in their own estimation and in
that of the people. Honour them, in order that they may
become men of honour. Prove to them, by the consideration
with which you surround them, that they are not footmen, and
that they oug