wants,
of the nation among whom it has taken place. It is not that our
ancestors were in the least wiser than we are; doubtless they did many
foolish things, as we do. It is that time has consigned their foolish
things, whether laws or measures, to the grave; and nothing has
descended to our time but those institutions which have been found to
be beneficial in their tendency. The portions of our present
legislation which are suitable to the country, will in like manner
descend to posterity, and the folly and absurdity will in a few
generations be heard of no more.

It has been already remarked, that the _Grandeur et Decadence des
Romains_ is a more complete, and in some respects profound work, than
the _Esprit des Loix_. A few quotations will justify, it is thought,
this high eulogium--

"The circumstance of all others which contributed most to the
_ultimate_ greatness of Rome, was the long-continued wars in
which its people were early involved. The Italian people had no
machines for conducting sieges; and in addition to this, as the
soldiers every where served without pay, it was impossible to
retain them long before a fortified town; thus few of their wars
were decisive. They fought for the pillage of a camp, or the
booty of the fields, after which victors and vanquished retired
alike into their respective cities. It was this circumstance
which occasioned the long resistance of the Italian cities, and,
at the same time, the obstinacy of the Romans in their endeavours
to subjugate them; it was that which gave them victories which
did not enervate, and conquests which left them their poverty.
Had they rapidly conquered the neighbouring cities, they would
have arrived at their decline before the days of Pyrrhus, of the
Gauls, and of Hannibal; and, following the destiny of all the
nations in the world, they would _too quickly_ have gone through
the transition from poverty to riches, and from riches to
corruption."--C. 1.

What a subject for reflection is presented in this single paragraph!
Rome, without any knowledge of siege equipage, thrown in the midst of
the Italian states bristling with strongholds; and slowly learning,
during centuries of indecisive, and often calamitous contests, that
military art by which she was afterwards to subdue the world! It was
in like manner, in the long, bloody, and nearly balanced contes