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De Quincey, Thomas, 1785-1859

"The Caesars"

" _Secondly_, not only were the
troops in this way paid at a time when the public purse was unequal to the
expenditure of war--but this pay, being contingent on the successful issue
of the war, added the strength of self-interest to that of patriotism in
stimulating the soldier to extraordinary efforts. Thirdly, not only did
the soldier in this way reap his pay, but also he reaped a reward, (and
that besides a trophy and perpetual monument of his public services,) so
munificent as to constitute a permanent provision for a family; and
accordingly he was now encouraged, nay, enjoined, to marry. For here was
an hereditary landed estate equal to the liberal maintenance of a family.
And thus did a simple people, obeying its instinct of conquest, not only
discover, in its earliest days, the subtle principle of Machiavel--_Let
war support war_; but (which is far more than Machiavel's view) they made
each present war support many future wars--by making it support a new
offset from the population, bound to the mother city by indissoluble ties
of privilege and civic duties; and in many other ways they made every war,
by and through the colonizing system to which it gave occasion,
serviceable to future aggrandizement.


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