G50

THE NATURE AND CAUSES OE

tlitt Scythians united, has been verified by the experience ol’all ages. The inhabitants of' the extensive, but defencelessplains of Scythia or Tartary, have been frequently unitedunder the dominion of the chief of some conquering hordeor clan; and the havoc and devastation of Asia have alwayssignalized their union. The inhabitants of the inhospitabledeserts of Arabia, the other great nation of shepherds, havenever been united but once; under Mahomet and his imme-diate successors. Their union, which was more the eflect ofreligious enthusiasm than of conquest, was signalized in thesame manner. If the hunting nations of America should everbecome shepherds, their neighbourhood would be much moredangerous to the European colonies than it is at present.

In a yet more advanced state of society, among those nationsof husbandmen who have little foreign commerce, and noothermanufactures but those coarse and household ones whichalmost every private family prepares for its own use; everyman, in the same manner, cither is a warrior, or easily be-comes such. They who live by agriculture generally pass thewhole day in the open air, exposed to all the inclemencies ofthe seasons. The hardiness of their ordinary life preparesthem for the fatigues of war, to some of -which their necessaryoccupations bear a great analogy. The necessary occupationof a ditcher prepares him to work in the trenches, and to for-tify a camp as well as to enclose a field. The ordinary pas-times of such husbandmen are the same as those of shepherds,and are in the same manner the images of war. But as hus-bandmen have less leisure than shepherds, they are not sofrequently employed in those pastimes. They are soldiers,but soldiers not quite so much masters of their exercise. Suchas they are, however, it seldom costs the sovereign or com-monwealth any expense to prepare them for the field.

Agriculture, even in its rudest and lowest state, supposesa settlement, some sort of fixed habitation which cannot beabandoned without great loss. When a nation of mere hus-bandmen, therefore, goes to war, the whole people cannottake the field together. The old men, the women, and chil-dren, at least, must remain at home to take care of the ha-bitation. All the men of the military age, however, may takethe field, and, in small nations of this kind, have frequentlydone so. In every nation the men of the military age aresupposed to amount to about a fourth or a fifth part of thewhole body of the people. If the campaign too should begin