"In the various states of society, armies are recruited from very different motives. Barbarians are urged by the love of war; the citizens of a free republic may be prompted by a principle of duty; the subjects, or at least the nobles, of a monarchy, are animated by a sentiment of honor; but the timid and luxurious inhabitants of a declining empire must be allured into the service by the hopes of profit, or compelled by the dread of punishment."
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Chapter XVII
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_History_of_the_Decline_and_Fall_of_the_Roman_Empire
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The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
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