[a] Military Force Was Collected In Europe,

It Has Been Calculated By The Ablest Politicians That No State, Without Being Soon Exhausted, Can Maintain Above The Hundredth Part Of Its Members In Arms And Idleness.

Our Toil Is Lessened, And Our Wealth Is Increased, By Our Dominion Over The Useful Animals . . .

The Value Of Money Has Been Settled By General Consent To Express Our Wants And Our Property, As Letters Were Invented To Express Our Ideas; And Both These Institutions, By Giving A More Active Energy To The Powers And Passions Of Human Nature, Have Contributed To Multiply The Objects They Were Designed To Represent.

Majorian Presents The Welcome Discovery Of A Great And Heroic Character, Such As Sometimes Arise, In A Degenerate Age, To Vindicate The Honor Of The Human Species.

It Is Scarcely Possible That The Eyes Of Contemporaries Should Discover In The Public Felicity The Latent Causes Of Decay And Corruption. This Long Peace, And The Uniform Government Of The Romans, Introduced A Slow And Secret Poison Into The Vitals Of The Empire. The Minds Of Men Were Gradually Reduced To The Same Level, The Fire Of Genius Was Extinguished, And Even The Military Spirit Evaporated.