14

THE DECLINE AND FALL

chap. They preserved peace by a constant preparation.^„„for war; and while justice regulated their con-duct, they announced to the nations on their con-fines, that they were as little disposed to endure,as to offer an injury. The military strength,which it had been sufficient for Hadrian and theelder Antoninus to display, was exerted againstthe Parthians and the Germans by the emperorMarcus . The hostilities of the barbarians pro-voked the resentment of that philosophic mo-narch, and, in the prosecution of a just defence,Marcus and his generals obtained many signalvictories, both on the Euphrates , and on theDanube / The military establishment of theRoman empire, which thus assured either itstranquillity or its success, will now become theproper and important object of our attention.Military In the purer ages of the commonwealth, thement of the use of arms was reserved for those ranks of citi-troperors, zens w ho had a country to love, a property todefend, and some share in enacting those laws,which it was their interest, as well as duty, tomaintain. But in proportion as the public free-dom was lost in extent of conquest, war was gra-dually improved into an art, and degraded intoa trade.® The legions themselves, even at the

f Dion. 1. lxxi, Hist. August, in Marco. The Parthian victoriesgave birth to a crowd of contemptible historians, whose memory hasbeen rescued from oblivion, and exposed to ridicule, in a very livelypiece of criticism of Lucian.

E The poorest rank of soldiers possessed above forty pounds ster-ling (Dionys. Halicarn. iv, 17), a very high qualification, at a timewhen money was so scarce, that an ounce of silver was equivalent