ificant gains; and that whenever these gains have passed a certain
limit, ruin has ensued. And if the latter of these two methods be of
little utility among armed States, among those that are unarmed, as is
now the case with the republics of Italy, it is worse than useless. We
may conclude, therefore, that the true method was that followed by the
Romans; which is the more remarkable as we find none who adopted it
before they did, and none who have followed it since. As for leagues, I
know of no nations who have had recourse to them in recent times except
the Swiss and the Suevians.

But to bring my remarks on this head to an end, I affirm that all the
various methods followed by the Romans in conducting their affairs,
whether foreign or domestic, so far from being imitated in our day, have
been held of no account, some pronouncing them to be mere fables, some
thinking them impracticable, others out of place and unprofitable; and
so, abiding in this ignorance, we rest a prey to all who have chosen
to invade our country. But should it seem difficult to tread in the
footsteps of the Romans, it ought not to appear so hard, especially for
us Tuscans, to imitate the Tuscans of antiquity, who if, from the causes
already assigned, they failed to establish an empire like that of Rome,
succeeded in acquiring in Italy that degree of power which their method
of acting allowed, and which they long preserved in security, with the
greatest renown in arms and government, and the highest reputation for
manners and religion. This power and this glory of theirs were first
impaired by the Gauls, and afterwards extinguished by the Romans, and
so utterly extinguished, that of the Etruscan Empire, so splendid two
thousand years ago, we have at the present day barely a record. This it
is which has led me to inquire whence this oblivion of things arises, a
question of which I shall treat in the following Chapter.

CHAPTER V.--_That changes in Sects and Tongues, and the happening of
Floods and Pestilences, obliterate the Memory of the Past_.

To those philosophers who will have it that the world has existed from
all eternity, it were, I think, a good answer, that if what they say
be true we ought to have record of a longer period than five thousand
years; did it not appear that the memory of past times is blotted out by
a variety of causes, some referable to men, and some to Heaven.

Among the causes which have a human origin are the chang