The Rights of War and Peace: In Three Volumes

Chapter V. Of Wasting and Plundering

1303 u c h a p t e r v u Of Spoil and Rapine in War. I. Cicero, in the third of his Offices, declares, 1 It is not against the Law of Nature to spoil or plunder him whom it is lawful to kill. No wonder then if the Law of Nations allows to spoil and waste an Enemy’s Lands and Goods, since it permits him to be killed. 2 Polybius tells us in the fifth of his History, by the Right of War it is lawful to take away, or destroy, the Forts, Havens, Cities, Men, Ships, Fruits of the Earth, and such like Things of an Enemy. And we read in Livy, 3 There are certain Rights of War, which, as we may do, so we may suffer, as the burning of Corn, the pulling down of Houses, the taking away of Men and Cattle. We may find in History, almost in every Page, the dismal Calamities of War, whole Cities destroyed, or their Walls throwndowntotheGround, I. (1)Nequeestcontranaturam,&c. (Cap.VI.)Suetoniusrelates,thatNero having received Advice of some Commotions in Gaul, was thought to be very well pleased with the News, because he had an Occasion of plundering those rich Provinces by Right of War. Adeoque lente ac secure tulit, gaudentis etiam suspicionempraeberet,tamquam occasione nata spoliandarum Jure Belli opulentissimarum provinciarum. Vit. Neron. Cap. XL. St. Cyprian says, that when a City is taken by an Enemy, all those who are within it, are liable to be plundered. Sic quum irruptione hostili civitas aliqua possessa est, omnes simul captivitas vastat. De mortalitate, (p. 159. Edit. Brem.) Grotius. 2. He says, that in taking or destroying these Kinds of Things, the Enemy isweakened , and our own Affairs advanced. Cap. XI. p. 501, 502. Edit. Amstel. 3. It is the Deputies of Athens who speak thus in the Assembly of the Aetolians, and say that is not the Subject of their Complaint. Neque id se queri, quod hostilia ab hoste passi forent: Esse enim quaedam Belli Jura, quae ut facere, ita pati, sit fas: Sata exuri, dirui tecta, praedas hominum pecorumque agi; misera magis, quam indigna, patienti esse. Lib. XXXI. Cap. XXX. Num. 2. I. The Goods of an Enemy may be spoiled, or taken away. 1304 chapter v Lands ravaged, and every Thing set on fire. And we may observe, these Things are lawful to be done, even to those that surrender themselves. The Townsmen, says Tacitus, 4 freely set open their Gates, and yielded themselves , and all they had, to the Romans, whereby they only saved their Lives: Artaxata was burnt by the Romans. II. 1. Neither does the 1 mere Law of Nations exempt sacredThings,that are consecrated, either to the true GOD, or to false Divinities, setting aside the Consideration of other Duties, (of which we will treat hereafter ) from these Insults of War. Pomponius, the Civilian, tells us, When Places are taken from the Enemy, 2 all Things therein cease to be sacred. Cicero, in his fourth Oration against Verres, observes, 3 The Victory made all the sacred Things of Syracuse profane. The Reason of which is this, because those Things that are called sacred, are not of such a Nature, that the Moment they are consecrated to Religion, Men 4 cannot more 4. Sed oppidani, portis sponte patefactis, &c. Annal. Lib. XIII. Cap. XLI. Num. 3. II. (1) Jus Gentium merum, says our Author, that is to say, that which not only grants Impunity, but even authorizes of itself to act, so that we do nothing in Conscience but what is just and innocent, whilst there is no other Consideration drawn from Duty, which engages us to abate of our Right. 2. Quum loca capta sunt, &c. Digest. Lib. XI. Tit. VII. De religiosis, & sumtibus funerum, &c. Leg. XXXVI. It is upon this Tertullian founds the Reproach he casts upon the Pagans, of paying little Respect to their own Divinities: “Wars, says he, generally occasion the Taking, and the Ruin of Cities; which cannot be donewithout Offence to the Gods; for the Victor spares the Temples no more than he does the Walls of the Place; the Priests are exposed to Slaughter as well as the Citizens; the sacred as well as the profane Goods are plundered: So that the Romans commit as many Sacrileges as they make Conquests, as often as they triumph over Men they triumph over the Gods; and the Statues of captive Divinities make Part of all the Spoils of...