alliances.

The mood of the time could not be painted in more impressive words than
those which Hyde uses, after the manner of Thucydides in describing the
moral effects of the Peloponesian war.

"In a word, the nation was corrupted from that integrity, good nature, and
generosity, that had been peculiar to it, and for which it had been signal
and celebrated throughout the world; in the room whereof the vilest craft
and dissembling had succeeded. The tenderness of bowels, which is the
quintessence of justice and compassion, the very mention of good nature,
was laughed at and looked upon as the mark and character of a fool; and a
roughness of manners, or hardheartedness and cruelty, was affected. In the
place of generosity, a vile and sordid love of money was entertained as
the truest wisdom, and anything lawful that would contribute towards being
rich. There was a total decay, or rather a final expiration of all
friendship; and to dissuade a man from anything he affected, or to reprove
him for anything he had done amiss, or to advise him to do anything he had
no mind to do, was thought an impertinence unworthy a wise man, and
received with reproach and contempt. These dilapidations and ruins of the
ancient candour and discipline were not taken enough to heart, and
repaired with that early care and severity that they might have been, for
they were not then incorrigible; but by the remissness of applying
remedies to some, and the unwariness in giving a kind of countenance to
others, too much of that poison insinuated itself into minds not well
fortified against such infection, so that much of the malignity was
transplanted, instead of being extinguished, to the corruption of many
wholesome bodies, which, being corrupted, spread the diseases more
powerfully and more mischievously." [Footnote: _Life_, i. 360.]