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389 Book II u c h a p t e r i u Of the Causes of War; and first, of the Defence of Persons and Goods. I. 1. Let us now proceed to the Causes of War, Imeansuchasareproperly said to justify it; 1 for there are some Motives of Advantage, sometimes different from just Occasions, thatdetermineustotakeupArms.Polybius 2 accurately distinguishes these two Sorts of Causes, the one from the I. (1) See Chap. XXII. of this Book, and Pufendorf, B. VIII. Chap. VI. § 3, 4. 2. In the third Book of his History, where he calls the Motives of Advantage, which induce a Nation to engage in a War, ◊Aitíai, Causes, and the Reasons urged for justifying such a Step, Profáseic, Pretexts, both which, as he observes, precede the ◊Arxh ’, the Beginning of the War, that is, the actual Execution of the Design formed, or the first Acts of Hostility, Cap. VI. He then applies this to the War between the Grecians and Persians, and that made on the Romans by Antiochus. In the former two Causes were alledged, viz. the experienced Weakness of the Barbarians, on the memorable Retreat of the ten thousand, who passed through all Asia, while none dared venture to attack them; and King Agesilaus’s Expedition in Asia, which confirmed Philip of Macedonia in that Opinion of the Persians, and put him on making Preparations for attacking them. But his Pretext was, that he designed to revenge the Injuries the Grecians had received from the Persians; and the War did not actually begin ’till his Son Alexander marched into Asia. The Causes given for the latter War, was the Resentment of the Etolians, who in Revenge for the Marks of Contempt given them by the Romans, engaged Antiochus to espouse their Interests. This was followed by a Pretext of freeing the Grecians from the Yoke of the Romans, against whom they animated all the Cities of Greece, and the War begun when An- I. What Causes of War may be termed justifiable . 390 chapter i other, and both from the 3 Beginning of the War, or that which gave Occasion to the first Acts of Hostility, as was the Stag 4 wounded by Ascanius, whence arose the War between Turnus and Aeneas. But tho’ there be a manifest Difference betweenthosethreeThings,yettheTerms made Use of to express them are commonly confounded. Thus Livy, in the Speech which he puts in the Mouth of the Rhodians, calls Beginnings what we call justifying Reasons. 5 You Romans, 6 (say the Deputies ) profess to believe that the Success of your Wars are happy, because they are just; and you glory not so much in the Victory that determines them, as in the 7 Beginnings, or becauseyoudonotundertakethemwithoutReason. tiochus landed at Demetrias with a Fleet. All this may be read in the Original, Cap. VI. VII. 3. This is what Virgil calls Exordia pugnae, Aeneid. VII. 40. Grotius. 4. Aen. VII. 481, &c. 5. Lib. XLV. Cap. XXII. Num. 5. 6. Certainly no Nation was so long remarkable for a careful Enquiry into the Justice of the Wars they undertook. Polybius, as quoted by Suidas observes, that The Romans were particularly cautious never to attack their Neighbours, nor appear the Aggressors; but always let the World see they took Arms in their own Defence. Under the Word ◊Embaine. This Dion Cassius shews in his beautiful Comparison of the Romans with Philip of Macedon and Antiochus. Excerpt. Peiresc. (p. 314, &c.) The same Historian elsewhere says, that The Antients (that is, the Romans) had nothing so much at Heart, as that the Wars in which they engaged were just. Excerpt. Legation. And to come to no Resolution without mature Deliberation. Excerpt. Peiresc. (p. 341.) Grotius. The Passage quoted from Suidas appears in the Place specified; but the Lexicographer doth not attribute it to Polybius. The Comparison between the Romans and the two Princes here mentioned, as also that last produced in the Note before us, belong to Diodorus of Sicily. The Reader may see the Places of the Excerpta Peiresciana , which I have marked exactly. I do not find in the Excerpta Legationum, the Passage here quoted by our Author; which induces me to believe, he has on this Occasion also taken one Writer for another. In Regard to the Thing itself, ortheglorious Conduct of the Romans, see my 7th Note on § 27. of the Preliminary Discourse. 7. In the same Sense Elian uses the Words Polémwn a...

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