Let us who still preserve our forces entire, us who are still
unsubdued, and want not to acquire liberty but only to secure it, manifest
at once, upon the first encounter, what kind of men they are that
Caledonia has reserved for her own vindication and defence.
"Do you indeed believe the Romans to be equally brave and vigorous in war,
as during peace they are vicious and dissolute? From our quarrels and
divisions it is that they have derived their renown, and thus convert the
faults of their enemies to the glory of their own army; an army compounded
of many nations so different, that as it is success alone which holds them
together, misfortunes and disasters will surely dissolve them. Unless you
suppose that the Germans there, that the Gauls, and many of the Britons
(whom with shame I mention), men who however have been all much longer
their enemies than their slaves, are yet attached to them by any real
fidelity and affection, whilst presenting their blood to establish a
domination altogether foreign and unnatural to them all. What restrains
them is no more than awe and terror, frail bonds of endearment; and when
these are removed, such who cease to fear, will immediately begin to
manifest their hate.
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