CHAP. XX.
No Prince, or Commonwealth without manifest danger, can employ foreign Forces, either Auxiliary, or Mercenary.
HAd I not discoursed at large in another place about the inconvenience of Auxiliary or Mer•••••••••••• Forces, in respect of ones own, I would have taken this opportunity to have spoken more of it here, than I shall do now: but having done it already, I shall only touch upon it at present, which I cannot forbear, upon a new occasion which I have met withal in Livr. I call those Forces Auxiliaries, which a Prince or Confederate sends to your assistance under his own Officers, and pay. Of this sort were the two Leg••ons which after the defeat of the Samnites, upon the importunity of the Capu•••• 〈◊〉〈◊〉 left with them for the security of their City. But those Legions which were intended for the defence of that City, languishing in ease, and wallowing in luxury, began to forget the Disciplne of their Country, and their Reverence to the Senate, and contrive how they might make themselves Masters of the Town, conceiving the Inhabitants unworthy to enjoy those pos∣sessions which they were unable to defend. But this Conspiracy was di••covered in time, and not only prevented, but punished by the Romans, as we shall shew more largly here∣after: At present I shall only say this, that of all Soldiers, none are employed with so much hazard, as your Auxiliaries. For first, neither Soldiers nor Officers receiving pay from you, but from the Prince or State by whom they are sent, they have but little regard either to your interest or authority; but when the War is done, give themselves wholly to pillaging and mischief, and that not only with the Enemy, but their Friends; moved some∣times by their own, and sometimes by the avarice of their Prince. The Romans when they left those Legions at Capua, had no thoughts of breaking their league, or offering them any injury; but the Souldiers being depraved by the licentiousness of the place, and encouraged by the pusillanimity of the Inhabitants, took occasion to conspire, and doubtlesly had they not been prevented, had seized upon the Town. This we could enforce with several other examples, but the case is so plain, I shall content my self with this, and that of the Regini, whose Inhabitants were not only rob'd and dispossessed, but murther'd by a Legion which the Romans sent to them for their security. So then in prudence a Prince or Common∣wealth is to take any course, rather than to bring himself into a necessity of employing Auxiliaries, especially when he is to rely wholly upon them; for no treaty or accommoda∣tion can be made with the Enemy, but shall be more for his advantage, than to entertain such Forces. And if old passages be consulted, and considered together with the new, it will be found that for one time in which they ever did good, there are hundreds in which they have done harm: Nor can an ambitious State or Prince have a more commodious occasion to possess himself of a City or Province, than when he is invited in this manner for its assistance and defence. Wherefore, he whose indiscretion is so great as to make use of such Armies, not only for his defence, but his conquests of other people, takes a course that must necessarily undo him; for he aims at the acquisition of what he cannot keep any longer than his Auxiliaries will give him leave, for they can take it from him when they please: But such is the unhappiness of human ambition, that fixing their eyes only upon present satisfaction, they never think of inconveniences that will follow, whereas if they would reflect upon ancient examples, they would find that the less injurious they