to those who come after them.
Or if among the survivors there chance to be one possessed of such
knowledge, to give himself consequence and credit, he will conceal and
pervert it to suit his private ends, so that to his posterity there will
remain only so much as he may have been pleased to communicate, and no
more.

That these floods, plagues, and famines do in fact happen, I see no
reason to doubt, both because we find all histories full of them, and
recognize their effect in this oblivion of the past, and also because
it is reasonable that such things should happen. For as when much
superfluous matter has gathered in simple bodies, nature makes repeated
efforts to remove and purge it away, thereby promoting the health of
these bodies, so likewise as regards that composite body the human race,
when every province of the world so teems with inhabitants that they can
neither subsist where they are nor remove elsewhere, every region being
equally crowded and over-peopled, and when human craft and wickedness
have reached their highest pitch, it must needs come about that the
world will purge herself in one or another of these three ways, to the
end that men, becoming few and contrite, may amend their lives and live
with more convenience.

Etruria, then, as has been said above, was at one time powerful,
abounding in piety and valour, practising her own customs, and speaking
her own tongue; but all this was effaced by the power of Rome, so that,
as I have observed already, nothing is left of her but the memory of a
name.

CHAPTER VI.--_Of the Methods followed by the Romans in making War_.

Having treated of the methods followed by the Romans for increasing
their power, we shall now go on to consider those which they used in
making war; and in all they did we shall find how wisely they turned
aside from the common path in order to render their progress to supreme
greatness easy.

Whosoever makes war, whether from policy or ambition, means to acquire
and to hold what he acquires, and to carry on the war he has undertaken
in such a manner that it shall enrich and not impoverish his native
country and State. It is necessary, therefore, whether for acquiring or
holding, to consider how cost may be avoided, and everything done most
advantageously for the public welfare. But whoever would effect all
this, must take the course and follow the methods of the Romans; which
consisted, first of all, in making their wars, as t