e emperor Marcus. The hostilities of the
barbarians provoked the resentment of that philosophic monarch, and, in
the prosecution of a just defence, Marcus and his generals obtained many
signal victories, both on the Euphrates and on the Danube. The military
establishment of the Roman empire, which thus assured either its
tranquillity or success, will now become the proper and important object
of our attention.

In the purer ages of the commonwealth, the use of arms was reserved for
those ranks of citizens who had a country to love, a property to defend,
and some share 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. 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. 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
vigor and resolution than the sedentary trades which are employed in the
service of luxury. 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 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.

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 despotic prince; and it became necessary to supply
that defect by other motives, of a different, but not less forcible
nature--honor and religion. The peasant, or mechanic, imbibed the useful
prejudice that h