hey had to fear, at once, their enemies, their comrades, and
their Gods. In the battle which ensued, the Samnites were routed, any
firmness lent them by religion or by the oath they had sworn, being
balanced by the Roman valour, and the terror inspired by past defeats.
Still we see that, in their own judgment, they had no other refuge to
which to turn, nor other remedy for restoring their broken hopes; and
this is strong testimony to the spirit which religion rightly used can
arouse.

Some of the incidents which I have now been considering may be thought
to relate rather to the foreign than to the domestic affairs of Rome,
which last alone form the proper subject of this Book; nevertheless
since the matter connects itself with one of the most important
institutions of the Roman republic, I have thought it convenient to
notice it here, so as not to divide the subject and be obliged to return
to it hereafter.

CHAPTER XVI.--_That a People accustomed to live under a Prince, if by
any accident it become free, can hardly preserve that Freedom._

Should a people accustomed to live under a prince by any accident become
free, as did the Romans on the expulsion of the Tarquins, we know from
numberless instances recorded in ancient history, how hard it will be
for it to maintain that freedom. And this is no more than we might
expect. For a people in such circumstances may be likened to the wild
animal which, though destined by nature to roam at large in the woods,
has been reared in the cage and in constant confinement and which,
should it chance to be set free in the open country, being unused to
find its own food, and unfamiliar with the coverts where it might lie
concealed, falls a prey to the first who seeks to recapture it. Even
thus it fares with the people which has been accustomed to be governed
by others; since ignorant how to act by itself either for attack or
defence, and neither knowing foreign princes nor being known of them, it
is speedily brought back under the yoke, and often under a heavier yoke
than that from which it has just freed its neck. These difficulties will
be met with, even where the great body of the citizens has not become
wholly corrupted; but where the corruption is complete, freedom, as
shall presently be shown, is not merely fleeting but impossible.
Wherefore my remarks are to be taken as applying to those States only
wherein corruption has as yet made no great progress, and in which there