BOOK III PART III
have been acquainted.
Heroism, or military glory, is much admired
by the generality of mankind. They consider it
as the most sublime kind of merit. Men of cool
reflection are not so sanguine in their praises of
it. The infinite confusions and disorder, which
it has caused in the world, diminish much of its
merit in their eyes. When they would oppose
the popular notions on this head, they always
paint out the evils, which this supposed virtue
has produced in human society; the subversion
of empires, the devastation of provinces, the
sack of cities. As long as these are present to
us, we are more inclined to hate than admire
the ambition of heroes. But when we fix our
view on the person himself, who is the author
of all this mischief, there is something so daz-
zling in his character, the mere contemplation