[58] "Vel iniquissimam pacem justissimo bello anteferrem" are the words of Cicero. (Epist. A. Cæcinæ: Epp. ad Diversos, VI. 6.) Only eight days after Franklin had placed his name to the treaty of peace which acknowledged the independence of his country, he wrote to a friend, "May we never see another war! for, in my opinion, there never was a good war or a bad peace." (Letter to Josiah Quincy: Works, ed. Sparks, Vol. X. p. 11.) It is with sincere regret that I seem, by a particular allusion, to depart for a moment from so great a theme; but the person and the theme here become united. I cannot refrain from the effort to tear this iron branch of War from the golden tree of Christian Truth, even though a voice come forth from the breaking bough.
[59] De Moribus German., Cap. 7.
[60] Joseph de Maistre, Soirées de Saint-Pétersbourg, Tom. II. p. 27.
[61] Romans, xv. 33.
[62] Ibid., xvi. 20.
[63] A volume so common as Cruden's Concordance shows the audacity of the martial claim.
[64] Iliad, V. 31.
[65] Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Chap. XVI. Vol. I. p. 680.
[66] Coleridge, Religious Musings, written Christmas Eve, 1794.
[67] The Point of Honor has a literature of its own, illustrated by many volumes, some idea of which may be obtained in Brunet, "Manuel du Libraire," Tom. VI. col. 1636-1638, under the head of Chevalerie au Moyen Age, comprenant les Tournois, les Combats Singuliers, etc. One of these has a title much in advance of the age in which it appeared: "Chrestienne Confutation du Point d'Honneur sur lequel la Noblesse fonde aujourd'hui ses Querelles et Monomachies," par Christ. de Chiffontaine, Paris, 1579.