is to decide which of them
shall dispossess a third of his dominions, where neither of them pretend
to any right. Sometimes one prince quarrels with another for fear the
other should quarrel with him. Sometimes a war is entered upon, because
the enemy is too strong; and sometimes, because he is too weak.
Sometimes our neighbours want the things which we have, or have the
things which we want, and we both fight, till they take ours, or give us
theirs. It is a very justifiable cause of a war, to invade a country
after the people have been wasted by famine, destroyed by pestilence, or
embroiled by factions among themselves. It is justifiable to enter into
war against our nearest ally, when one of his towns lies convenient for
us, or a territory of land, that would render our dominions round and
complete. If a prince sends forces into a nation, where the people are
poor and ignorant, he may lawfully put half of them to death, and make
slaves of the rest, in order to civilize and reduce them from their
barbarous way of living. It is a very kingly, honourable, and frequent
practice, when one prince desires the assistance of another, to secure
him against an invasion, that the assistant, when he has driven out the
invader, should seize on the dominions himself, and kill, imprison, or
banish, the prince he came to relieve. Alliance by blood, or marriage,
is a frequent cause of war between princes; and the nearer the kindred
is, the greater their disposition to quarrel; poor nations are hungry,
and rich nations are proud; and pride and hunger will ever be at
variance. For these reasons, the trade of a soldier is held the most
honourable of all others; because a soldier is a _Yahoo_ hired to kill,
in cold blood, as many of his own species, who have never offended him,
as possibly he can.

"There is likewise a kind of beggarly princes in Europe, not able to make
war by themselves, who hire out their troops to richer nations, for so
much a day to each man; of which they keep three-fourths to themselves,
and it is the best part of their maintenance: such are those in many
northern parts of Europe."

"What you have told me," said my master, "upon the subject of war, does
indeed discover most admirably the effects of that reason you pretend to:
however, it is happy that the shame is greater than the danger; and that
nature has left you utterly incapable of doing much mischief. For, your
mouths lying flat with your faces, yo