truly make a judgment, that the principal point of greatness in any state is to have a race of military men. Neither is money the sinews[1] of war (as it is trivially said,) where the sinews of men's arms, in base and effeminate people, are failing. For Solon[2] said well to Crœsus[3] (when in ostentation he shewed him his gold), Sir, if any other come that hath better iron than you, he will be master of all this gold.[4] Therefore let any prince or state think soberly of his forces, except his militia of natives be of good and valiant soldiers. And let princes, on the other side, that have subjects of martial disposition, know their own strength; unless they be otherwise wanting unto themselves. As for mercenary forces (which is the help in this case), all examples show that whatsoever estate or prince doth rest upon them, he may spread his feathers for a time, but he will mew[5] them soon after.
The blessing of Judah and Issachar will never meet; that the same people or nation should be both the lion's whelp[6] and the ass between burthens;[7] neither
- ↑ Money the sinews of war. Aeschines attributes this metaphor to Demosthenes. But Cicero, in his fifth Philippic against Antony, (M. Tullii Ciceronis in M. Antonium Oratio Philippica Quinta. I. 5), uses the expression nervos belli, pecuniam infinitam.
"Though old the thought,
And oft exprest,
'T is his at last
Who says it best." - ↑ Solon, 638(?)–559(?) B.C., Athenian lawgiver.
- ↑ Croesus became King of Lydia in 560 B.C., and was defeated and taken prisoner by Cyrus, King of Persia, in 546 B.C.
- ↑ Lucian. Charon.
- ↑ Mew. To shed the feathers; to moult.
- ↑ "Judah is a lion's whelp." Genesis xlix. 9.
- ↑ "Issachar is a strong ass, couching down between two burdens." Genesis xlix. 9.
