being the best
man in the field or in the city the latter part of which consideration
makes the common soldier herein a better man than the general of any
monarchical army.

"And whereas it may be thought that this would drink deep of noble
blood, I dare boldly say, take the Roman nobility in the heat of their
fiercest wars, and you shall not find such a shambles of them as has
been made of ours by mere luxury and slothfulness; which, killing the
body, kill the soul also: Animasque in vulnere ponunt. Whereas common
right is that which he who stands in the vindication of, has used that
sword of justice for which he receives the purple of magistracy. The
glory of a man on earth can go no higher, and if he falls he rises
again, and comes sooner to that reward which is so much higher as heaven
is above the earth. To return to the Roman example: every class was
divided, as has been more than once shown, into centuries, and every
century was equally divided into youth and elders; the youth for foreign
service, and the elders for the guard of the territory. In the first
class were about eighteen centuries of horse, being those which, by
the institution of Servius, were first called to the suffrage in the
centurial assemblies. But the delectus, or levy of an army, which is the
present business, proceeded, according to Polybius, in this manner:

"Upon a war decreed, the Consuls elected four-and-twenty military
tribunes or colonels, whereof ten, being such as had merited their tenth
stipend, were younger officers. The tribunes being chosen, the Consuls
appointed a day to the tribes, when those in them of military age were
to appear at the capitol. The day being come, and the youth assembled
accordingly, the Consuls ascended their tribunal, and the younger
tribunes were straight divided into four parts after this manner: four
were assigned to the first legion (a legion at the most consisted of
6,000 foot and 300 horse), three to the second, four to the third, and
three to the fourth. The younger tribunes being thus distributed, two of
the elder were assigned to the first legion, three to the second, two to
the third, and three to the fourth; and the officers of each legion thus
assigned, having drawn the tribes by lot, and being seated according to
their divisions at a convenient distance from each other, the tribe of
the first lot was called, whereupon they that were of it knowing the
business, and being prepared, presently bol