nt;
and the memory of past glories;--all these did not avail to save
it from defeat at the hands of an enemy who only began to organise
a fleet when the Athenians had invaded his coast waters.

Ideal perfection as a regular army has never been so nearly reached
as by that of Sparta. The Spartan spent his life in the barrack
and the mess-room; his amusements were the exercises of the parade
ground. For many generations a Spartan force had never been defeated
in a pitched battle. We have had, in modern times, some instances
of a hectoring soldiery arrogantly prancing amongst populations
whose official defenders it had defeated in battle; but nonesuch
could vie with the Spartans in the sublimity of their military
self-esteem. Overweening confidence in the prowess of her army
led Sparta to trample with ruthless disdain on the rights of
others. The iniquitous attack on Thebes, a state thought incapable
of effectual resentment, was avenged by the defeat of Leuctra,
which announced the end of the political supremacy and the military
predominance of Sparta.

In the series of struggles with Carthage which resulted in putting
Rome in a position enabling her eventually to win the dominion
of the ancient world, the issue was to be decided on the water.
Carthage was essentially a maritime state. The foundation of the
city was effected by a maritime expedition; its dominions lay on
the neighbouring coast or in regions to which the Carthaginians
could penetrate only by traversing the sea. To Carthage her fleet
was 'all in all': her navy, supported by large revenues and
continuously maintained, was more of a 'regular' force than any
modern navy before the second half of the seventeenth century. The
Romans were almost without a fleet, and when they formed one the
undertaking was ridiculed by the Carthaginians with an unconcealed
assumption of superiority. The defeat of the latter off Mylae,
the first of several, came as a great surprise to them, and, as
we can see now, indicated the eventual ruin of their city.

We are so familiar with stories of the luxury and corruption of
the Romans during the decline of the empire that we are likely
to forget that the decline went on for centuries, and that their
armed forces, however recruited, presented over and over again
abundant signs of physical courage and vigour. The victory of
Stilicho over Alaric at Pollentia has been aptly paralleled with
that of Marius over the Cimbri. This was by n