happened first to the Romans, and afterwards to Hannibal on taking
possession of Capua. And had Capua been at such a distance from Rome
that a ready remedy could not have been applied to the disorders of
the soldiery, or had Rome herself been in any degree tainted with
corruption, this acquisition had certainly proved her ruin. To which
Titus Livius bears witness when he says, "_Most mischievous at this time
to our military discipline was Capua; for ministering to all delights,
she turned away the corrupted minds of our soldiers from the remembrance
of their country_." And, truly, cities and provinces like this, avenge
themselves on their conquerors without blood or blow; since by infecting
them with their own evil customs they prepare them for defeat at the
hands of any assailant. Nor could the subject have been better handled
than by Juvenal, where he says in his Satires, that into the hearts of
the Romans, through their conquests in foreign lands, foreign manners
found their way; and in place of frugality and other admirable virtues--

"Came luxury more mortal than the sword,
And settling down, avenged a vanquished world."[1]

And if their conquests were like to be fatal to the Romans at a time
when they were still animated by great virtue and prudence, how must it
fare with those who follow methods altogether different from theirs, and
who, to crown their other errors of which we have already said enough,
resort to auxiliary and mercenary arms, bringing upon themselves those
dangers whereof mention shall be made in the Chapter following.


[Footnote 1:

Sævior armis