thine arm? What purpose serves
So to be helped by others? Deem I right,
Among offenders thy defender stands?
Both _are_ thy enemies--both _were_ thy servants!
Thus dost thou honour--thus dost thou preserve
The mighty boundaries of the glorious empire?
And thus to Valour, to thy pristine Valour
That swore its faith to thee, thy faith thou keep'st?
Go! and divorce thyself from thy old Valiance,
And marry Idleness: and midst the blood,
The heavy groans and cries of agony,
In thy last danger sleep, and seek repose!
Sleep, vile Adulteress! the homicidal sword
Vengeful shall waken thee! and lull'd to slumber,
While naked in thy minion's arms, shall strike!

Among the domestic contests of Italy the true principles of political
freedom were developed; and in that country we may find the origin of
that PHILOSOPHICAL HISTORY which includes so many important views and so
many new results unknown to the ancients.

Machiavel seems to have been the first writer who discovered the secret
of what may be called _comparative history_. He it was who first sought
in ancient history for the materials which were to illustrate the events
of his own times, by fixing on analogous facts, similar personages, and
parallel periods. This was enlarging the field of history, and opening a
new combination for philosophical speculation. His profound genius
advanced still further; he not only explained modern by ancient history,
but he deduced those results or principles founded on this new sort of
evidence which guided him in forming his opinions. History had hitherto
been, if we except Tacitus, but a story well told; and by writers of
limited capacity, the detail and number of facts had too often been
considered as the only valuable portion of history. An erudition of
facts is not the philosophy of history; an historian unskilful in the
art of applying his facts amasses impure ore, which he cannot strike
into coin. The chancellor D'Aguesseau, in his instructions to his son on
the study of history, has admirably touched on this distinction. "Minds
which are purely historical mistake a fact for an argument; they are so
accustomed to satisfy themselves by repeating a great number of facts
and enriching their memory, that they become incapable of reasoning on
principles. It often happens that the result of their knowledge breeds
confusion and universal indecision; for their facts, often
contradictory, only raise up doubts.