THE WEALTH OK NATIONS. 737

necessity of learning those exercises without which he couldnot be fit for that service.

That in the progress of improvement the practice of mili-tary exercises, unless government takes proper pains to sup-port it, goes gradually to decay, and, together with it, themartial spirit of the great body of the people, the example ofmodern Europe sufficiently demonstrates. But the securityof every society must always depend, more or less, upon themartial spirit of the great body of the people. In the presenttimes, indeed, that martial spirit alone, and unsupported bya well-disciplined standing army, would not, perhaps, be suf-ficient for the defence and security of any society. But whereevery citizen had the spirit of a soldier, a smaller standingarmy would surely be requisite. That spirit, besides, would ne-cessarily diminish very much the dangers to liberty, whetherreal or imaginary, which are commonly apprehended from astanding army. As it would very much facilitate the opera-tions of that army against a foreign invader, so it would ob-struct them as much if unfortunately they should ever be di-rected against the constitution of the state.

The ancient institutions of Greece and Rome seem to havebeen much more effectual, for maintaining the martial spiritof the great body of the people, than the establishment ofwhat are called the militias of modern times. They weremuch more simple. When they were once established, theyexecuted themselves, and it required little or no attention fromgovernment to maintain them in the most perfect vigour.Whereas to maintain, even in tolerable execution, the com-plex regulations of any modern militia, requires the continualand paintul attention of government, without which they areconstantly falling into total neglect anil disuse. The influ-ence, besides, of the ancient institutions was much more uni-versal. By means of them the whole body of the people wascompletely instructed in the use of arms. Whereas it is buta very small part of them who can ever be so instructed bythe regulations of any modern militia ; except, perhaps, thatot Switzerland . But a coward, a man incapable either ofdefending or of l’cvenging himself, evidently wants one ol themost essential parts of the character of a man. He is as muchmutilated and deformed in his mind as another is in his body,who is either deprived of some of its most essential members,°r has lost the use of them. He is evidently the more wretchedand miserable of the two; because happiness and misery,