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• The Rights of War and Peace Book Iii
• Chapter I: Certain General Rules, Shewing What, By the Law of Nature, Is Allowable In War; Where Also the Author Treats of Deceit and Lying.
• Chapter II: How Subjects Goods, By the Law of Nations, Are Obliged For Their Prince’s Debts: and of Reprisals.
• Chapter III: Of a Just Or Solemn War, According to the Right of Nations, and of Its Denunciation.
• Chapter IV: The Right of Killing Enemies In a Solemn War; and of Other Hostilities Committed Against the Person of the Enemy.
• Chapter V: Of Spoil and Rapine In War.
• Chapter VI: Of the Right to the Things Taken In War.
• Chapter VII: Of the Right Over Prisoners.
• Chapter VIII: Of Empire Over the Conquered.
• Chapter IX: Of the Right of Postliminy.
• Chapter X: Advice Concerning Things Done In an Unjust War.
• Chapter XI: Moderation Concerning the Right of Killing Men In a Just War.
• Chapter XII: Concerning Moderation In Regard to the Spoiling the Country of Our Enemies, and Such Other Things.
• Chapter XIII: Moderation About Things Taken In War.
• Chapter XIV: Of Moderation Concerning Captives.
• Chapter XV: Moderation In Obtaining Empire.
• Chapter XVI: Moderation Concerning Those Things Which, By the Law of Nations, Have Not the Benefit of Postliminy.
• Chapter XVII: Of Neuters In War.
• Chapter XVIII: Concerning Things Privately Done In a Publick War.
• Chapter XIX: Concerning Faith Between Enemies.
• Chapter XX: Concerning the Publick Faith Whereby War Is Finished; of Treaties of Peace, Lots, Set Combats, Arbitrations, Surrenders, Hostages, and Pledges.
• Chapter XXI: Of Faith During War, of Truces, of Safe-conduct, and the Redemption of Prisoners.
• Chapter XXII: Concerning the Faith of Inferior Powers In War.
• Chapter XXIII: Of Faith Given By Private Men In War.
• Chapter XXIV: Of Faith Tacitly Given.
• Chapter XXV: The Conclusion, With Admonitions to Preserve Faith and Seek Peace.
• Passages of Scripture, Illustrated, Examined, Or Corrected In This Treatise . †
• Appendix Prolegomena to the First Edition of De Jure Belli Ac Pacis
• Bibliography of Postclassical Works Referred to By Grotius
• Bibliography of Works Referred to In Jean Barbeyrac’s Notes

CHAPTER XII

Concerning Moderation in regard to the spoiling the Country of our Enemies, and such other Things.

I.What Spoil is just, and how far.I. 1. That one may destroy the Things of another without the Imputation of Injustice, one of these three Things should necessarily go before. 1. Either such a Necessity as may be supposed to have been excepted in the primitive Establishment of Property. As when a Man, purely for his own Safety, shall throw the Sword of another Person, which a Madman was going to seize on, into a River; yet in that very Case he lies under an Obligation to make Satisfaction for it to the full Value; as I havea shewed in another Place, according to the most reasonable Opinion. 2. Or some Debt arising from an Inequality, that so what is wasted may be reputed, as taken in Satisfaction of that Debt, for otherwise it could not be lawful. 3. Or some Injury, that may merit such a Punishment, or which such a Punishment does not proportionably exceed. For as a judiciousb Divine well observes, there is no manner of Justice, that a whole Kingdom should be laid waste, for the driving away of a few Cattle, or the burning of some Houses. Which is also allowed by Polybius,1 who would not have the Rigour of War be exercised without Controul, but just so far, that Wrongs and Punishments may be equally balanced: And for these Reasons, and with these Limitations, it may be done without Injustice.<650>

2. But unless it be for some Advantage, it would be very foolish to do another a Damage, without any Profit to ones self. Wherefore wise Men always propose to themselves some Advantage thereby, the principal whereof Onosander has observed,2Let him destroy, burn, and lay waste his Enemy’s Country: For the want of Money and Provisions shortens the War, as Plenty lengthens it. To which agrees that of Proclus,3It is the Duty of a good General to straiten his Enemies as much as possible. And thus says Curtius of Darius,4He expected that he should be overcome by Famine, having nothing to sustain him, but what he could get by Spoil and Plunder.

3. And that Waste and Desolation cannot be condemned, which quickly forces an Enemy to Peace: This way of making Wars did Halyattes use against the Milesians, the Thracians against the Byzantians, the Romans against the Campanians, Capenates, Spaniards, Ligurians, Nervians, and Menapians. But if we rightly weigh the Matter, such Things are for the most Part managed rather out of Spite than wise Counsel: For very often either those inducing Reasons cease, or there are others more powerful, that advise to the contrary.

II.No wasting of Things that may be profitable to us, and out of the Enemy’s Power.II. 1. This happens first, when we have got such Possession of a Thing belonging to the Enemy, that he cannot any more enjoy the Fruits of it. To which the divine Law1 does properly refer, which allows wild Trees and unfruitful to be cut down, to make Fortifications and Engines of War; but those that bear Fruit to be preserved for Subsistence, giving this Reason, because Trees cannot, as Men may, rise up in Arms against us. Which2Philo, by a Parity of Reason, extends also to fruitful Fields; and by a pathetical Fiction introduces the Law itself thus speaking to those who ought to observe it. Why are you angry with Things inanimate, particu -<651> larly those that are mild, and yield grateful Fruit? Do they, like Men, discover any hostile (or disobliging) Intentions against you? Do they deserve to be entirely rooted up, for what they do, or threaten to do against you? But they are very beneficial to the Conqueror, and afford a large plenty of Things immediately necessary, and even contribute to our Pleasures; Men do not only pay Tribute, but even Trees, and that of more Value in their proper Seasons, and also such as Man cannot live without. And Josephus3 to the same Purpose says: If Trees could speak, they would cry out, and reproach us with Injustice, for making them suffer the Punishment of War, who were no Occasion of it. And hence it is, in my Opinion, that the Pythagoreans have derived their Maxim,4That we ought not to destroy or hurt a cultivated Plant or Fruit-Tree.

2. And Porphyry5 describing the Manners of the Jews (in his fourth Book of not eating living Creatures) esteeming their Custom to be (I suppose) the best Interpreter of their Law, enlarges it even to all Beasts serviceable to Husbandry, for he says Moses commanded to spare also these in War. But their Talmud Writings, and Hebrew Interpreters extend it yet farther,6 declaring that this Law ought to reach to every Thing that may be destroyed without Cause, as the burning of Houses, the spoiling of Eatables and Drinkables. The wise Moderation of Timotheus the Athenian General agreed with this Law, who (as Polyaenus7 relates it) would not suffer a House or Village to be destroyed, or a Fruit-Tree to be cut down. There is a Law also in Plato,8 in his fifth Book De Republica, forbidding to waste Lands or burn Houses.

3. Much less ought it then to be allowed after a compleat Victory. Cicero9 blames the destroying of Corinth, though they had in a gross Manner abused the Roman Embassadors. And in another Place10 he calls that War, horrid, abominable, and spitefully malicious, which was made11 against Walls, Houses, Pillars and<652> Gates. Livy much commends the Mercy of the Romans, at the taking of Capua, that they did not exercise their Cruelty12 on the innocent Houses and Walls, by burning and demolishing them. Agamemnon says in Seneca,

• • 13Equidem fatebor (pace dixisse hoc tuâ
  • Argiva tellus liceat) affligi Phrygas
  • Vincique volui: ruere, & aequari solo
  • Etiam arcuissem. ———
• • ’Tis true, the Trojans (and I hope my Country
  • Forgives my Clemency) I thought to conquer;
  • But to apply th’ Extremities of War,
  • Or raze their City, this I ne’er intended.

4. Indeed holy Writ informs us, that some Cities were by GOD’s especial Command entirely rased, Joshua vi. even against that general Law which we have mentioned, the Trees of the Moabites were ordered to be cut down, 2 Kings iii. 19. But that was not done in Hatred to the Enemy, but in just Detestation of their Impieties, which were either publickly notorious, or esteemed worthy of such Punishment in the Sight of GOD.

III.If there be probable Hopes of a speedy Victory.III. 1. This will likewise happen, where the Possession is yet in Dispute, if there be great Hopes of a speedy Victory, of which those Lands and Fruits will be the Reward. Thus Alexander the Great, as Justin relates it, hindered his Soldiers from wasting Asia,1 declaring to them, that they should spare their own, and not destroy those Things, which they came to possess. Thus Quintius, when Philip overrun Thessaly, wasting it with Fire and Sword, exhorted his Soldiers (as Plutarch2 informs us) to march thro’ the Country, as if it were now entirely their own. Croesus3 advising Cyrus not to give up Lydia to be plundered by his Soldiers, tells him, You will not ruin my Cities, nor my Lands, they are no longer mine, they are now become yours, they will destroy what is yours.

2. They who do otherwise, may apply to themselves the Words of Jocasta to Polynices in Seneca’s Thebais.

• • 4Patriam petendo perdis: Ut fiat tua,
  • Vis esse nullam: Quin tuae causae nocet
  • Ipsum hoc, quod armis uris infestis solum
  • Segetesque adultas sternis, & totos fugam
  • Edis per agros: Nemo sic vastat sua.
  • Quae corripi igne, quae meti gladio jubes,
  • Aliena credis.
• • You ruin your Country whilst you seek it; to make it yours
  • Its Being you destroy; it defeats your Claim<653>
  • To level, thus in Arms, the ripen’d Harvest;
  • Is Fire and Sword, the Vengeance of an Enemy,
  • Applied to Spoil and Ravage what’s ones own?
  • No, our deadliest Foes we thus afflict.

To the same Sense are the Words of5Curtius, Whatsoever they did not waste, they owned to be their Enemies. Agreeable hereunto is that which Cicero, in his Letters to Atticus, says against the Design that Pompey had formed of taking his Country by Famine. Upon this Account Alexander the Isian blames Philip (in the 17th Book of Polybius) whose Words Livy6 has thus rendered: Philip dared not engage in a fair Field-fight, nor come to a pitch’d Battle, but flying away burned and plundered Cities; so that the Conquered rendered useless to the Conquerors what should have been the Recompence of Victory. But the old Kings of Macedon did not use to do so, they used to come to a fair Engagement, to spare Cities as much as possible, that they might have the more wealthy Dominion. For it is not a strange Conduct, to make War in such a Manner, that at the same Time, we dispute the Possession of a Thing, we leave nothing for ourselves but War.

IV.If the Enemy can be supplied otherwise.IV. 1. In the third Place, this happens, if the Enemy can be supplied elsewhere, either by Sea or Land. Archidamus in Thucydides,1 in his Speech to dissuade his Subjects the Lacedemonians from a War with Athens, puts this Query, What Hopes had they to succeed in the War, whether, because they excelled in Number of Soldiers, they pretended to waste the Athenian Lands? But consider (says he) they have other Countries under their Dominion, (meaning Thrace and Ionia) and they might easily supply themselves by Sea, with whatsoever they wanted. Wherefore in that Case it were best to protect Husbandry even in the Frontiers of each Side: Which we have lately seen practised in the Wars of the Low-Countries, by paying Contributions to both Parties.

2. And this is agreeable to the antient Custom of the Indians, among whom, as Diodorus Siculus2 relates, Husbandmen are indemnified and as it were sacred, so that they follow their Labour even close by the Camp, and near the Troops. And he adds, They do not burn the Enemies Lands, nor cut down the Trees. And again, No Soldier will willingly wrong Husbandmen, but esteeming them as common Benefactors, forbear doing them any manner of Injury.

3. Xenophon3 informs us, that it was agreed between Cyrus and the Assyrian King, That the Husbandmen should enjoy Peace, and that War should be made only against those that were in Arms. Thus Timotheus, as Polyaenus4 relates, Let out the fruitfullest Lands of the Country where he had entered with his Army: Nay, (as Aristotle5 adds) sold the very Corn to his Enemies, and with that Money paid his own Soldiers. Which Viriatus also practised in Spain, as Appian witnesseth. And this very Thing we have seen done in the aforesaid Low-Country War, with great Prudence and Profit, to the Admiration of all Foreigners.

4. These Customs do the Canons, which are full of Lessons of Humanity, propose to our Christian Imitation, as being obliged to, and professing more Humanity than others; therefore they6 enjoin us to put not only the Husbandmen beyond the hazard of War, but also their Cattle with which they plow, and their Seed which they carry to the Field; it is undoubtedly for the same Reason that the Civil Law7 forbids <654> to take in pawn any Thing belonging to Agriculture. And it was formerly prohibited among the Phrygians and Cyprians, afterwards8 with the Athenians, and then the Romans, to kill a plowing Ox.

V.If the Things be of no Use for War.V. There are some Things of that Nature, that they can no way contribute either towards the making or maintaining of a War, which Things even common Reason will have spared during a War. To this Purpose is the Speech of the Rhodians to Demetrius, the Taker of Towns, with regard to the Picture of Ialysus (one of the Founders of their Nation) translated by A. Gellius.1What Reason can you have to desire to destroy so excellent a Piece,†by burning our Houses? For if you vanquish us, and take the City, this Picture will also be entirely your own; but if you are forced to raise the Siege, pray consider, what a Disgrace it will be to you, because you could not overcome the Rhodians, you must needs make War with Protogenes a dead Painter. Polybius2 called it an Act of extream Madness to destroy those Things, which by being destroyed do not weaken the Enemy, nor advantage the Destroyer. Such are Temples, Portico’s, Statues, and the like. Cicero3 much commends Marcellus, because he took such a particular Care to preserve all the Buildings of Syracuse both publick and private, sacred and prophane, as if he had been sent with an Army, rather to defend than take the City. And the same Author4 again, Our Ancestors used to leave to the Conquered, what Things were grateful to them, but to us of no great Importance.

VI.This especially ought to take in Things sacred, or thereto belonging.VI. 1. But as this Maxim ought to be observed in regard to publick Ornaments, for the Reason aforesaid, so more especially in regard to Things dedicated to sacred Uses, for, although these also (as we have saida elsewhere) are in some Sort publick, and therefore by the Law of Nations may be damaged or destroyed with Impunity, yet if no Danger can arise from the preserving of such Buildings, and their Appurtenances,1 the Reverence due to holy Things may be a sufficient Plea, especially with those who worship the same GOD according to the same Law, tho’ they may differ in Opinions and Ceremonies.<655>

[[2.†Thucydides2 says, it was a Law observed by the Greeks in his Days, When they invaded the Lands of an Enemy, they mutually spared holy Places. When Alba was destroyed by the Romans,3Livy says the Temples were preserved. And Silius 4 in his 13th Book thus writes of the Romans taking Capua.

• • Ecce repens tacito percurrit pectora sensu
  • Religio, & Saevas componit Numine mentes,
  • Ne flammam taedasque velint, ne templa sub uno
  • In cinerem sedisse rogo.
• • Religion, by insensible Degrees
  • Steals on the Mind, and sooths the Breasts of Conquerors,
  • Lest in the universal Wrack of Cities,
  • The Temples of the Gods fall undistinguish’d.

The same Livy5 tells us, it was objected to Q. Fulvius the Censor, That he had involved the People of Rome in the Crime of Sacrilege, by the Destruction of Temples, as if the immortal Gods were not the same in all Places, but that they of one Place should be honoured, and adorned with the Spoils of those of another. But Marcius Philippus being arrived at Dius, caused the Troops to encamp near the very Temple of that City, in order to secure it and all that was in it from Hostilities. Strabob writes, that the Tectosages, who with others had robbed the Temple of Delphos, to appease the injured God, did consecrate those Spoils, with some Addition, when they returned Home.

]]

3. To come now to the Christians. Agathias relates, that the Franks spared the Temples of the Greeks, as being themselves of the same Religion with them. Nay, it was customary to save the Persons of Men in respect to Churches, which (not to quote Examples of Heathen Nations, whereof there are many, for Writers6 call this Custom, A Law amongst the Grecians) St. Augustin thus commends7in the Goths, when they took Rome. The8Churches consecrated to (the Memory of) Martyrs and Apostles, in that general Devastation, secured all those that fled to them for<656> Refuge, whether Natives or Foreigners. So far the Rage of the Enemy extended without Controul, but here the Fury of Slaughter stopt; to these Places did the compassionate Soldiers convey their Prisoners, whom they had spared even without the Bounds of these Sanctuaries, from the Fury of their own Companions, that had less Tenderness than themselves; and they who other ways were inhumanly cruel, as soon as ever they came near any of those Places, where they were forbid to make use of their Right of War, immediately restrained their Eagerness to kill, and their Desire of making Prisoners.

VII.Also burial placesVII. 1. What I have said of sacred Things, the same may also be understood of Sepulchres, and even of Monuments that have been erected in Honour of the Dead. For even those (tho’ the Law of Nations hath not exempted them from the Fury of the Conqueror) cannot be violated without Breach of common Humanity. The Lawyers maintain1 that whatever engages a religious Respect to burial Places, ought to be of very great Weight. There is a pious Saying of Euripides in his Troades, in regard to Sepulchres, as well as sacred Things,

• • 2 Μω̂ρος δὲ θνητω̂ν ὅστις ἐκπορθει̑ πόλεις,
  • Ναούς τε τύμβους θ’ ἱερὰ τω̂ν κεκμηκότων,
  • Ἐρημίᾳ δοὺς αὐτὸς ὕστερον.
• • Whoever ravages the silent Dead,
  • Or impiously profanes their sacred Urns,
  • Unwise I’ll call him; for he ne’er reflects,
  • That his own Dust may once be so disturb’d.

Apollonius Tyaneus3 thus interpreted the Fable of the Giants fighting against Heaven, ὑβρίσαι εἰς τοὺς νεὼς αὐτὼν, καὶ τὰ ἔδη, That they violated the Temples and Habitations of the Gods. Hannibal is called sacrilegious by Statius,4 for burning the Altars of the Gods.

2. Scipio, at the taking of Carthage, presented his Soldiers with large Donatives, χωρὶς τω̂ν εἰς τὸ Ἀπολλώνειον ἁμαρτόντων, says Appian,5Except those who had profaned the Temple of Apollo. The Trophy erected by Mithridates, Caesar (as Dion6 relates) durst not demolish, as consecrated to the Gods of War. Marcus Marcellus7 (as Cicero observes in his fourth Oration against Verres) would not out of Conscience touch those Things which Victory had rendered profane. And the same Author8 adds, that there were some Enemies, who in War observed the Right of Religion, and of Customs. And he in another Place calls the Acts of Hostility which Brennus exercised against the Temple of Apollo, an9 abominable War. Livy10 calls the Action of Pyrrhus in plundering the Treasure of Proserpine, vile and insolent against the Gods. So does Diodorus11 that of Himilco, ἀσέβειαν, καὶ εἰς θεοὺς ἁμαρτημα,<657> impious, and sinful against the Gods. The same Livy12 terms the War of Philip execrable, as if made against both the coelestial and infernal Deities; nay, he calls it Madness and a Series of Crimes. And Florus on the same,13 Philip, contrary to the Right of Victory, vented his Cruelty on the Temples, Altars, and even the Sepulchres of the Dead. Polybius14 speaking of the same, passes this Judgment, Who can call it any Thing else but an Act of downright Madness, to destroy those Things which can be of no Advantage to us, nor Prejudice to our Enemies, particularly Temples, Images, and such like Ornaments? And here he doth not permit the Law of Retaliation, as a sufficient Excuse.

VIII.The Advantages mentioned, which arise from this Moderation.VIII. 1. Tho’ it be not properly my Design to enquire, what it is advantageous to do or not to do, but to reduce the extravagant Licence of War to what natural Equity allows, or what is best among Things lawful; yet Vertue itself, little esteemed in this Age, ought to forgive me, if, whilst she is by [[sic: for herself neglected, I endeavour to render her valuable on the account of her Advantages. First then, Moderation observed in preserving those Things which do not lengthen out the War, takes from the Enemy a powerful Weapon, Desperation. Archidamus thus speaks in Thucydides,1Look upon the Enemy’s Country as an Hostage, and so much the surer the better it is cultivated, and with the more Reason to be spared, lest Despair should render the Enemy more invincible.2 The same was the Advice of Agesilaus, when against the Opinion of the Achaeans, he gave the Acarnanians free Liberty to sow their Corn, saying, the more they sowed, the more desirous they would be of Peace. And to this Purpose in the Satyr,

• 3Spoliatis arma supersunt.
• The Plunder’d still have desperate Arms.

Livy tells us, when the Gauls4 had taken Rome, their chief Commanders would not let all the Houses be burnt; that what they left standing of the Town, might be as a Pledge to bend the Minds of the Besieged.

2. Besides, the sparing of an Enemy’s Country during a War, looks as if we were pretty confident of Victory. And Clemency is of itself proper to soften and pacify the Minds of Men. Hannibal (according to5Livy) wasted none of the Lands of the Tarentines, not out of Moderation, either in General, or Soldiers, but to gain the Tarentines to his Party. For the same Reason did Augustus Caesar6 forbear plundering Pannonia. Dion gives the Reason, He hoped to win them without Blows. And Timotheus by doing what we have before mentioned of him, proposed to himself (as Polyaenus7 relates) among other Things, to gain the Affections of his Enemies. Plutarch8 speaking of the Moderation of Quintius, and the Romans that were with him (in Greece) adds this, They quickly reaped the Benefit of this Forbearance, for as soon as he came into Thessaly, the Cities readily yielded to him. The Greeks also which dwelt within the Thermopylae, earnestly desired his coming; and the Achaeans renouncing the Friendship of Philip, immediately confederated with the Romans against him. Frontinus9 informs us, that a City of the Lingones having escaped the plundering they were afraid of, in the War made by Domitian, under<658> the Conduct of Cerealis, against Civilis the Batavian, and his Associates; Because beyond their Expectation, they had lost nothing of their Goods, submitting to his Obedience, they furnished him with 70,000 Men well armed.

3. Contrary Counsels have met with contrary Success. Livy10 gives an Instance in Hannibal, Giving himself up to Covetousness and Cruelty, he destroyed what he could not keep, that he might leave nothing to the Enemy but wasted Lands. And this Counsel was wretched both in the beginning and in the End. For he not only lost the Affections of those whom he thus barbarously used, but of all others also, who were afraid of being exposed to the like Desolation.

4. I readily agree to what has been observed by some Divines, that it is the Duty of supreme Powers, and of Commanders who desire to be thought Christians by GOD and Man, to prevent the merciless plundering of Towns, and the like Acts of Hostility, as cannot be done without infinite Loss to Multitudes of innocent People, and be but of little Advantage in regard to the principal Affairs of War. Such Sort of Violence is almost always contrary to Christian Charity, and commonly to Justice itself. There is certainly a greater Bond among Christians, than there was formerly among the Grecians, in whose Wars it was enacted by a Decree of the Amphictyones,11 that no Grecian City should be pillaged. And some antient Writers12 affirm, that Alexander the Macedonian repented of nothing more than his destroying of Thebes.

[a ]B. 2. ch. 2. § 9.

[b ]Vict. de Jure bel. n. 52. and 56.

[1 ]Our Author has already recited the Passage of that Historian, which he has here in View, in the preceding Chapter, § 8.

[2. ]Stratagem. Cap. VI. (p. 15. Edit. Rigalt. 1590.) Grotius.

The Reader upon this Passage of Onosander’s may see the Note of John Chokier, p. 18, 19, of his Edition in 1610, but especially the full Part of Janus Gruterus’s Dissertations, printed as a Supplement to the Edition of Regault in 1604 with this Title: Varii discursus, sive prolixiores Commentarii ad aliquot insigniora locaTacitiatqueOnosandri. Our Author perhaps might have made Use of this Collection: For almost all the Passages which he cites in this Chapter, are in it, (p. 138. & seq.) with others in a much greater Number than in Albericus Gentilis, De Jure Belli, Lib. II. Cap. XXIII.

[3. ]PhiloJudaeus insinuates that it is customary to ravage the Lands of the Enemy, that the Want of Necessaries may reduce them to surrender. De vit. contemplat. (p. 891. D. E.) The same Author speaking of the Ravages occasioned by an Irruption of the Enemy, says it is a double Misfortune to those who are exposed to it, as their Friends on the one Side suffer by Famine, and the Enemy on the other profits by the abundance of Provisions he carries off. De Diris, (init. p. 930. A. Edit. Paris.)

[4. ]Quippe credibat [Darius] inopiâ debellari posse nihil habentem nisi quod rapiendo occupasset. Lib. IV. Cap. IX. Num. 8.

[1 ]There is great Reason to believe, that the Law regards only the Siege of the Cities, which were in the Land of Canaan, intended for the Abode of the Israelites, as Mr. Le Clerc observes. So that it was not out of Consideration for the Conquered, that the Law-giver prescribed the Moderation here meant; since the Conqueror not only might, but was bound in Duty to put all to the Sword, without Distinction of Sex or Age, in the Cities of the seven Nations devoted to utter Extirpation; and in regard to the more remote Places, all the Favour the Besieged had to hope for, was that their Women and Children should be reserved for Slavery: Besides, it is doubtful, whether the male Infants were not included in the general Term of Males, for whom there was no Quarter, Ver. 13. What Probability is there then, that GOD should have in View any respect to the Goods of these People, over whose Lives he had given the Israelites such power. This does not hinder however, in my Opinion, but that a good Argument may be drawn from hence to our Author’s Purpose. For if the Creator and supreme LORD of Mankind did not approve, that the Israelites should lay waste without Necessity the Lands of the People, against whom he had armed them in an extraordinary Manner, and had made them as it were the Executors of his terrible Judgments; much more would he not approve our doing so in ordinary Wars, often unjust, and undertaken without much Necessity, and wherein the Party, who boasts the most of the Justice of his Cause, is sometimes in the wrong.

[2. ]De creation. Magistrat. (p. 734 C) There is another Passage of that Jewish Author, which tho’ long, merits a Place here. Moses, says he, Extends Moderation and Lenity so far, that next to rational Creatures he makes Beasts the Object of it; and after them, even Plants; of which we must now speak, as we have sufficiently explained what regards Men and all animate Beings. The Lawgiver then forbad the cutting down of any Fruit Tree, the reaping of Fields of Corn before the Season, in a Word the spoiling of any of the Fruits of the Earth: And that in order that Mankind might have not only allowance of Food, and Things necessary for Life, but also of those for Pleasure. The Provision of Grain is indeed necessary for the Subsistence of Man, and the infinite Variety of Fruits, which the Trees bear, contributes to his Delight: Which Fruits also at certain Times of Dearth, may supply the Place of the most necessary Aliments. ButMosesgoes farther: He even forbids wasting the Lands of an Enemy. He enjoins us to abstain from cutting down the Trees upon them, holding it unjust to discharge the Resentment, with which we are animated against Men, upon innocent Things. Besides which, it was his Design to teach us not only to think of the present, but extend our Views to the future, and to consider that in the Vicissitudes, to which all human Things are liable, it might easily happen, that those who are to Day our Enemies will to morrow be our Allies, by the Effect of an happy Conference. Now in this Case, it would have been cruel to deprive our Friends of necessary Things, of which they might not have made Provision for the future. The Antients have indeed said with great Reason, that we ought to live with our Friends in such a Manner, as if we were not ignorant that they might one Day become our Enemies, and on the contrary that we ought so to act in regard to those with whom we are at Variance, as if we had Reason to hope for a Reconciliation. By the first a Resource is preserved for our own Security, and we guard against having Causeto repent too late of our too great Facility in discovering more, than is proper, by our Actions and Discourse. A most important Maxim, which states ought also carefully to observe; in providing during Peace for what is necessary in War, and during War for what regards Peace: So that, on the one Side, they do not confide too much in their Allies, as if no Change could happen, to induce them to become Enemies, and on the other, not entirely despair of an Enemy, as if it were not possible for him to become a Friend. But tho’ we ought not to do any Thing in favour of Enemies, in hopes of a Reconciliation, we should not therefore vent our Rage upon Plants and Trees. Nothing of that Kind is at War with us: On the contrary all such Things are at Peace, and conduce to our good. Fruit Trees especially and cultivated Plants are very necessary to us, as their Fruits serve for our Nourishment, or something equivalent to it. We ought not therefore to make War upon what neither would nor could do us any Hurt. We ought not to cut down, burn, or root up Things, which Nature herself takes care to form and raise by the Waters with which she moistens them, and the Temperature of the Seasons, which she regularly brings on, in order that each revolving Year should pay tribute to Men, as to so many Kings. That wise and good Mother gives perpetual Force and Vigour not only to Animals, but Plants, especially such as are cultivated, that require the greatest Care, and are not so fruitful as those that are wild, De Humanitate, (p. 712, 713.) Grotius.

[3. ]He extends the Prohibitions of that Law so far, that he does not seem to except even the Case, wherein no other Wood could be found for forming the necessary Machines of War. Antiq. Jud. Lib. IV. Cap. VIII. p. 130. B.

[4. ]De Vit. Pythagor. § 99. Edit. Kuster. See also Diogenes Laertius, Lib. VIII. § 23.

[5. ]That Philosopher speaks of the Sect of the Essenes in particular. De abstin. Animal. Lib. IV. p. 394. Edit. Ludg. 1620.

[6. ]On the contrary, they are for having this Exception added: Unless the Fruit Trees are in Suburbs, or hinder shooting and throwing Darts against the Enemy. Grotius.

See the learned Selden’s Treatise, De Jure Natur. & Gent. secundum discipl. Hebraeorum, Lib. VI. Cap. XV.

[7. ]Strateg. Lib. III. Cap. X. Num. 5.

[8. ]De Repub. Lib. V. p. 471. A. Vol. I. Edit. H. Steph.

[9. ]Nollem Corinthum [Funditùs sublatam.] De Offic. Lib. I. Cap. XI. See also Lib. III. Cap. XI.

[10. ]Sed quid ego vestram crudelitatem, &c. Orat. pro domo sua. Cap. XXIII.

[11. ]There is a remarkable Letter of Belisarius on this Subject to Totilas, Gotthic. III. It was formerly esteemed an Effect of the Wisdom and Genius of great Politicians, to raise noble Structures; and to destroy them after they were built, the Part of Fools, not blushing to transmit to Posterity Tokens and Monuments of their Folly. It is manifest, that Rome is the biggest and most beautiful City of all the World (or that the Sun be holds) and that it could not arrive to that Greatness and Splendor, by the Labour of one single Man, nor in a short Time; but many Kings, and Emperors, an infinite Number of illustrious Persons, many Ages, and a prodigious Mass of Treasure, had drawn thither, as other Things, so also the most curious Artificers in the World. Thus Rome was formed by little and little, such as you now see it, full of the Monuments which each of those that contributed to its Improvement, has left of his Wisdom and Ingenuity. Wherefore to ruin or destroy it, would be injurious to Mankind of all Ages; to rob our Ancestors of the Memory of their just Praise; and future Ages the Pleasure of so glorious a Sight. Since Things then are thus, consider that one of these two must certainly happen; either you will be conquered or Conqueror in this War. If you be Conqueror, then by destroying the City, you destroy not what is another’s, but your own; and by preserving it, you will enjoy the most beautiful Possessions in the World: On the other Side, if you should be vanquished, the preserving the City of Rome will be a great Argument to incline your Conqueror to shew Mercy to you, but if it be destroyed your Affairs will be lost beyond any Hopes of Mercy. And you will not only get no Advantage by doing it, but you will have such a Name from all Mankind, as such a Fact deserves. So it is in your Will to have Fame make her Report of you; for as the Actions of great Men are, so is their Reputation. See the Law of Frederick I. in Conrad. Abbot of Ursperg, and concerning Frederick Count Palatine,Melancthon’s Chronide.Grotius.

[12. ]Ita ad Capuam res compositae, &c. Lib. XXVI. Cap. XVI. Num. 11, 12.

[13. ]Troad. Ver. 276. & seq.

[1 ]Inde hostem petens milites, &c. Lib. XI. Cap. VI. Num. 1.

[2. ]Vit. T. Quint. Flamin. p. 371. So Gelimer, and the Vandals under his Command when they besieged Carthage, avoided plundering, and laying waste the Country, preserving it as their own, as Procopius informs us, Vandalic. Lib. II. init. (Cap. I.) Helmoldus has a Reflection to the same Effect: Nonne terra quam devastamus, nostra est; & populus, quem expugnamus, populus noster est? Quare ergo invenimur hostes nostrimet, & dissipatores vectigalium nostrorum? Lib. I. Cap. LXVI. See something of the same Kind in Bembo, Hist. Lib. IX. (Fol. 149. Ver. 1. Edit. Venet. 1551.) and in Paruta, Lib. VI, concerning the Germans.

[3. ]Herodot. Lib. I. Cap. LXXXVIII.

[4. ]Phoeniss. (sive Thebaid.) Ver. 558. & seq. Edit. Gronov.

[5. ]Nullum desperationis illorum magis indicium esse, quam quod urbes, quod agros suos urerent: Quidquid non corrupissent hostium esse confessi. Lib. IV. Cap. XIV. Num. 2.

[6. ]In bello non congredi [Philippum] aequo campo, &c. Lib. XXXII. Cap. XXXIII. Num. 11, 12.

[1 ]Lib. I. Cap. LXXXI.

[2. ]Lib. II. Cap. XXXVI. p. 86. Edit. H. Steph. Cap. XL. p. 88.

[3. ]Cyrop. Lib. V. Cap. IV. § 13. Edit. Oxon.

[4. ]Stratag. (Lib. III. Cap. X. Num. 9.) Plutarch says the same Thing of the Megarians, Quaest. Graec. (XVII. p. 295. B.) Totilas, when he marched to besiege Rome, hurt none of the Peasants of Italy: On the contrary he commanded them to till the Land as before, paying him the ordinary Contributions. Procop. Gotthic. Lib. III. Cap. XIII. Cassiodorus says, it is the highest Praise to those who defend a State by Arms, to act in such Manner during a War, that the Husbandmen should not discontinue their Labours in the Field: Defensorum maxima laus est, &c. Var. Lib. XII. Cap. V. Grotius.

[5. ]Oeconomic. Lib. II. p. 507. A. Vol. II. Edit. Paris.

[6. ]See the Canon cited at the End of § 10. in the preceding Chapter.

[7. ]Besides the Advantage of Agriculture, Regard was had also to the Interest of the Revenue, which required, that the Debtors to it should not be rendered incapable of paying the Taxes in due Time: Exsequutores, a quocumque judice dati, ad exigenda debita ea quae civiliter poscuntur, servos aratores, aut boves aratorios, aut instrumentum aratorium, pignoris caussa de possessionibus non abstrahant, ex quo tributorum illatio retardatur. Cod. Lib. VIII. Tit. XVII. Quae res pignori obligari possunt, &c. Leg. VII. See Cujas, Observ. IV. 20.

[8. ]Aelian. Var. Hist. Lib. V. Cap. XIV. See also Columella, De Re Rust. Lib. VI. Princ.Porphyrius, De non esu Animal. Lib. II. (p. 173, & seq.) This was also the Custom in Peloponnesus, as Varro informs us, De Re Rustica. Lib. II. (Cap. V.) In regard to the Romans, see Pliny, Hist. Natur. Lib. VIII. Cap. XLV. Vegetius, De arte Veterinaria, Lib. III. Grotius.

[1 ]Mittunt Rhodii ad Demetrium, &c.Aul. Gell. Noct. Attic. Lib. XV. Cap. XXXI. See Pliny upon this Head, Hist. Natur. VII. 38. XXXV. 10. and Plutarch. Vit. Demetr. (p. 898. E.) The Letter of Belisarius, which we have given above, § 2. Note 11. includes the same Thought. Grotius.

[† ][[This is misprinted “Peace” in the original, and corrected by hand in some copies.]]

[2. ]The Passage will be cited below, at the End of § 7.

[3. ]Itaque aedificiis omnibus, &c. In Verr. Lib. IV. Cap. LIV.

[4. ]Apud eos autem quos, &c. Ibid. Cap. LX.

[a ]Ch. 5. of this Book. § 2.

[1 ]It is, according to Polybius, a Sign of excessive Folly to insult the Divinity, because you are angry with Men. Excerpt. Peiresc. That Author is in the Right: For, as the Emperor Alexander Severus said, it were better to pay the Divinity a religious Worship, whatever it be, in a Temple, than to give the Place to People, who make a Victualling-house of it: Quum Christiani quemdam locum, qui publicas fuerat occupassent, contra Popinarii dicerent, sibi cum deberi, rescripsit, Melius esse, ut quomodocunque illic Deus colatur, quam Popinariis dedatur. Lamprid. Alex. Sever. (Cap. XLIX.) The famous Hannibal spared the Temple of Diana at Saguntum, out of Respect for Religion: Cui [Templo Dianae Sagunti] pepercit religione inductus Hannibal, &c. Pliny, Hist. Natur. Lib. XVI. Cap. XL. AppianusAlexandrinus makes Brutus say, that it was the Custom of the Romans to leave even their foreign Enemies the Temples of their Gods. De Bell. Civ. Lib. III. (p. 516. Edit. II. Steph.) Plutarch relates, that the Amphyctyons objected to Sylla’s Manner of treating them, the Moderation of Flaminius, Manius Aquilius, and Paulus Aemilius, the first of whom, when he had drawn Antiochus out of Greece, and the two others, after having conquered the Kings of Macedonia, not only spared the Grecian Temples, but adorned and enriched them with magnificent Presents. Vit. Syll. (p. 459. C. D.) The same Author praises Agesilaus for a like Respect to sacred Places: And before him, the Latin Author, who had writ the Life of that famous King of Lacedaemonia, affirms the same of him, and also that he held it Sacrilege to hurt those who had taken Refuge in Temples, and there by implored the Protection of the Gods: Tamen ante tulit irae religionem.— Itaque praedicabat, mirari se, non sacrilegorum numero haberi, qui supplicibus Deorum nocuissent; aut non gravioribus poenis adfici, qui religionem minuerent, quum qui fana spoliarent. [Cornelius Nepos, Agesil. Cap. IV.] See also Vitruvius, De Architec. Lib. II. (Cap. VIII.) Dion Cassius, Lib. XLII. Plutarch, Vit. Caesar. (p. 720.) J. Brodaeus, Miscell. Lib. V. (Cap. XXIX.) Gabaon, King of the Moors, tho’ a Pagan, disproved the Conduct of the Vandals, who profaned the Churches of the Christians, and made them make Amends for their Irreverence. He hoped, that the Impiety of those People would be punished by the God of the Christians, whoever he were; as Procopius informs us, Vandalic. Lib. I. (Cap. VIII.) Chosroez, King of Persia, tho’ no more a Christian than the other, spared the Church of the Christians at Antioch. Idem, Persic. Lib. II. (Cap. IX.) The Emperor Justinian, having found amongst the Spoils taken from the Vandals, the Things, which Vespasian had formerly taken out of the Temple at Jerusalem, and Gizerich had afterward carried from Rome into Africa, did not dare to keep them, and sent them back to Jerusalem to be placed in the Church of the Christians. Idem, Vandalic. Lib. II. (Cap. IX.) The Rabbi Benjamin, in his Itinerary, relates the Respect which the Mahometans have retained for the Place where the Bones of Ezechiel, and the three Companions of Daniel were buried. Grotius.

I do not find in any Part of Polybius, the exact Words cited by our Author in the beginning of this Note. But there is the same Sense in two Passages of the Excerpta Peiresciana, p. 66. and 169.

[† ][[Paragraph number missing in text, supplied from Latin edition.]]

[2. ]Lib. IV. Cap. XCVII.

[3. ]Templis tamen Deum (ita enim edictum ab Rege fuerat) temperatum est, Lib. I. Cap. XXIX. in fin.

[4. ]Punic. Lib. XIII. Ver. 316. & seq. Edit. Drakenborg.

[5. ]Et obstringere religione Populum, &c. Lib. XLII. Cap. III. Num. 9.

[b ]Geogr. l. 4. p. 188. Ed. Par. Casaub.

[6. ]Diod. Sicul. Lib. XIX. Cap. LXXII. p. 705. Edit. H. Steph.

[7. ]Testantur hoc Martyrum loca, & Basilicae Apostolorum, quae in illa vastatione urbis ad se confugientes, suos, alienosque receperunt. Huc usque cruentus saeviebat inimicus: Ibi accipiebat limitem trucidationis furor: Illo ducebantur a miserantibus hostibus quibus, [qui must undoubtedly be read in this Place: For St. Austin distinguishes between those, who were moderate, and the less merciful; and Orosius, who relates the same Fact, Lib. VII. Cap. XXVIII. confirms this manner of reading:] Etiam extra illa loca pepercerant, ne in eos incurrentes, qui similem misericordiam non haberent: Qui tamen ipsi alibi truces, atque hostili mare saevientes: Posteaquam ad loca illa veniebant, ubi fuerat interdictum, quod alibi jure belli licuisset, tota saeviendi refraenabatur immanitas, & captivandi cupiditas frangebatur. De Civit. Dei. Lib. I. Cap. I. Isidorus has copied this Passage in Chronic. Gotth. upon the Year 447. The Fact happened under Alarick, an Arian Prince, of whom Cassiodorus has preserved another memorable Action, by which he signalized himself upon the same Occasion. It was this; when the consecrated Vessels taken out of the Church of St. Peter were brought to him; he asked what they were, and upon being informed, he ordered them to be carried back into the Church by the same Persons, who had taken them out of it: Nam, quum Rex Alaricus, &c. Var. Lib. XII. Cap. XX. Grotius.

If Gronovius may be believed, whose Note the Reader may see, there is nothing to be corrected in the Passage of St. Austin.

[8. ]The Goths, who besieged Rome under King Vitiges, spared also the same Churches, as Procopius informs us, Gotthic. Lib. II. Cap. IV. Even the Barbarians, not Christians, found an Asylum in these sacred Places. See Zosimus, Lib. IV. Cap. XL. in regard to the Tomitani. The Swiss have a good Law upon this Head, recited by Simlar, De Rep. Helvet. (p. 302. Edit. Elzevir.) See also Nicetas, in the History of the Emperor Alexis Comnenus, (Cap. IV.) and the Place where that Historian blames the Sicilians for having profaned the Churches of Antioch. In Andronic. (Cap. IX.) Grotius.

[1 ]Nam summam esse rationem, quae pro religione facit. Digest, Lib. XI. Tit. VII. De Religiosis & sumptibus funerum, &c. Leg. XLIII.

[2. ]Ver. 95. & seq.

[3. ]Philostrat. De Vit. Apoll. Tyan. (Lib. V. Cap. XVI. Edit. Olear.) Thus Diodorus Siculus explains another antient Fable in this Manner, I mean that of Epopeus.Grotius.

It was in the Excerpta, published by Henry de Valois, our Author found the Passage he speaks of. But the Fable, which the Historian explains, is not there: He only relates that Epopeus, King of Sicyone, destroyed Temples and Altars: And he calls that, making War upon the Gods. The Passage is: Ὅτι Ἐπωπεὺς βασιλεὺς, &c. p. 221.

[4. ]

• Praecipue quum sacrilegus [Hannibal] face miscuit arces
• Ipsius
• [Herculis]

Sylv. Lib. IV. Sylv. VI. Ver. 82. Our Author, who does not mark the Place from whence he took these Words, probably quoting by Memory, changes arces into aras, and makes the Poet say: Deum face miscuit aras.

[5. ]De Bell. Punic. p. 83. Edit. II. Steph.

[6. ]Lib. XLII.

[7. ]The Passage has been cited above, Chap. V. of this Book, § 2. Note 2.

[8. ]A little before: Quae [aedes Minervae] ab eo [Verre] sic spoliata atque direpta est, non ut ab hoste aliquo, qui tamen in bello, religionis & consuetudinis jura retineret, sed ut a barbaris praedonibus vexata esse videatur. In Verr. Lib. IV. Cap. LV.

[9. ]Quod contigisse Brenno dicitur, ejusque Gallicis copiis, quum fano Apollonis Delphici nefarium bellum intulisset. De Divinat. Lib. I. Cap. XXXVII.

[10. ]Qui [Pyrrhus] quum ex Sicilia rediens Locros classe praeterveheretur, inter alia foeda—facinora—thesauros quoque Proserpinae intactos ad eam diem, spoliavit—Quae tantâ clade edoctus, tandem Deos esse superbissimus Rex, pecuniam omnem conquisitam in thesauros Proserpinae referri jussit, Lib. XXIX. Cap. XVIII. Num. 4, 6.

[11. ]Lib. XIV. (Cap. LXIV. p. 430. Edit. H. Steph.)

[12. ]Adeo omnia simul divina humanaque jura polluerit, ut priore populatione cum infernis Diis, secunda cum Superis, bellum nefarium gesserit. Lib. XXXI. Cap. XXX. Num. 4. In Deos superos inferasque nefanda ejus scelera, &c. Ibid. Cap. XXXI. Num. 3. Praebuit huic furori materiam, &c. Cap. XXVI. Num. 11.

[13. ]Quum ille [Philippus] ultra jus victoriae in templa, aras, & Sepulcra ipsa saeviret, (Lib. II. Cap. VII. Num. 4.) Polybius relates, and at the same Time condemns in the strongest Terms, a like Action of Prusias, King of Bithynia. The Passage is in Suidas, at the Word Προυσίας, and in the Excerpta Peiresciana, (p. 169. Edit. Paris. p. 1468. Edit. Amstel.) Grotius.

[14. ]Lib. V. Cap. XI.

[1 ]Lib. I. Cap. LXXXII.

[2. ]Xenoph. Hist. Graec. Lib. IV. (Cap. VI. § 13. Edit. Oxon.) Plutarch also mentions this in his Life of Agesilaus, (p. 608. B.) Grotius.

[3. ]Juvenal viii. 124.

[4. ]Et non omnia concremari tecta, &c. Lib. V. Cap. XLII. Num. 2.

This is an Imitation of the Passage in Thucydides, cited in Note 1. of this Paragraph, as Matthias Berneger pretends in his Observationes Miscellae, published at Strasburgh in 1669. Obs. XII. where he says many Things, and alledges many Authorities entirely the same as in this Place, without however quoting our Author, who had writ long before him.

[5. ]In Tarentino domum agro pacatum, &c. Lib. XXIV. Cap. XX. Num. 10.

[6. ]Lib. XLIX. p. 472. D. E. Edit. H. Steph.

[7. ]Strateg. Lib. III. Cap. X. § 9.

[8. ]Vit. Flamin. p. 371. D.

[9. ]Auspiciis Imperatoris Caesaris Domitiani, &c. Strateg. Lib. IV. Cap. III. Num. 14.

[10. ]Praeceps in avaritiam & crudelitatem, &c. Lib. XXVI. Cap. XXXVIII. Num. 3, 4.

[11. ]This the Orator Aeschines informs us: De male obita legat. p. 262. A. Edit. Basil. 1572.

[12. ]See Plutarch, in the Life of that famous Conqueror, p. 671. B.