[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
.The number of those who can go to war, in proportion to thewhole number of the people, is necessarily much smaller in acivilised than in a rude state of society.In a civilised society, as thesoldiers are maintained altogether by the labour of those who arenot soldiers, the number of the former can never exceed what thelatter can maintain, over and above maintaining, in a mannersuitable to their respective stations, both themselves and the otherofficers of government and law whom they are obliged tomaintain.In the little agrarian states of ancient Greece, a fourth ora fifth part of the whole body of the people considered themselvesas soldiers, and would sometimes, it is said, take a field.Amongthe civilised nations of modern Europe, it is commonly computedthat not more than one-hundredth part of the inhabitants in anycountry can be employed as soldiers without ruin to the countrywhich pays the expenses of their service.The expense of preparing the army for the field seems not tohave become considerable in any nation till long after that ofmaintaining it in the field had devolved entirely upon theAdam Smith ElecBook Classics The Wealth of Nations: Book 5 929sovereign or commonwealth.In all the different republics ofancient Greece, to learn his military exercises was a necessarypart of education imposed by the state upon every free citizen.Inevery city there seems to have been a public field, in which, underthe protection of the public magistrate, the young people weretaught their different exercises by different masters.In this verysimple institution consisted the whole expense which any Grecianstate seems ever to have been at in preparing its citizens for war.In ancient Rome the exercises of the Campus Martius answeredthe same purpose with those of the Gymnasium in ancient Greece.Under the feudal governments, the many public ordinances thatthe citizens of every district should practise archery as well asseveral other military exercises were intended for promoting thesame purpose, but do not seem to have promoted it so well.Eitherfrom want of interest in the officers entrusted with the executionof those ordinances, or from some other cause, they appear tohave been universally neglected; and in the progress of all thosegovernments, military exercises seem to have gone gradually intodisuse among the great body of the people.In the republics of ancient Greece and Rome, during the wholeperiod of their existence, and under the feudal governments for aconsiderable time after their first establishment, the trade of asoldier was not a separate, distinct trade, which constituted thesole or principal occupation of a particular class of citizens.Everysubject of the state, whatever might be the ordinary trade oroccupation by which he gained his livelihood, considered himself,upon all ordinary occasions, as fit likewise to exercise the trade ofa soldier, and upon many extraordinary occasions as bound toexercise it.Adam Smith ElecBook Classics The Wealth of Nations: Book 5 930The art of war, however, as it is certainly the noblest of all arts,so in the progress of improvement it necessarily becomes one ofthe most complicated among them.The state of the mechanical, aswell as of some other arts, with which it is necessarily connected,determines the degree of perfection to which it is capable of beingcarried at any particular time.But in order to carry it to thisdegree of perfection, it is necessary that it should become the soleor principal occupation of a particular class of citizens, and thedivision of labour is as necessary for the improvement of this, as ofevery other art.Into other arts the division of labour is naturallyintroduced by the prudence of individuals, who find that theypromote their private interest better by confining themselves to aparticular trade than by exercising a great number.But it is thewisdom of the state only which can render the trade of a soldier aparticular trade separate and distinct from all others.A privatecitizen who, in time of profound peace, and without any particularencouragement from the public, should spend the greater part ofhis time in military exercises, might, no doubt, both improvehimself very much in them, and amuse himself very well; but hecertainly would not promote his own interest.It is the wisdom ofthe state only which can render it for his interest to give up thegreater part of his time to this peculiar occupation: and states havenot always had this wisdom, even when their circumstances hadbecome such that the preservation of their existence required thatthey should have it.A shepherd has a great deal of leisure; a husbandman, in therude state of husbandry, has some; an artificer or manufacturerhas none at all.The first may, without any loss, employ a greatdeal of his time in martial exercises; the second may employ someAdam Smith ElecBook Classics The Wealth of Nations: Book 5 931part of it; but the last cannot employ a single hour in them withoutsome loss, and his attention to his own interest naturally leads himto neglect them altogether.These improvements in husbandry too,which the progress of arts and manufactures necessarilyintroduces, leave the husbandman as little leisure as the artificer [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pl doc.pisz.pl pdf.pisz.pl odbijak.htw.pl
.The number of those who can go to war, in proportion to thewhole number of the people, is necessarily much smaller in acivilised than in a rude state of society.In a civilised society, as thesoldiers are maintained altogether by the labour of those who arenot soldiers, the number of the former can never exceed what thelatter can maintain, over and above maintaining, in a mannersuitable to their respective stations, both themselves and the otherofficers of government and law whom they are obliged tomaintain.In the little agrarian states of ancient Greece, a fourth ora fifth part of the whole body of the people considered themselvesas soldiers, and would sometimes, it is said, take a field.Amongthe civilised nations of modern Europe, it is commonly computedthat not more than one-hundredth part of the inhabitants in anycountry can be employed as soldiers without ruin to the countrywhich pays the expenses of their service.The expense of preparing the army for the field seems not tohave become considerable in any nation till long after that ofmaintaining it in the field had devolved entirely upon theAdam Smith ElecBook Classics The Wealth of Nations: Book 5 929sovereign or commonwealth.In all the different republics ofancient Greece, to learn his military exercises was a necessarypart of education imposed by the state upon every free citizen.Inevery city there seems to have been a public field, in which, underthe protection of the public magistrate, the young people weretaught their different exercises by different masters.In this verysimple institution consisted the whole expense which any Grecianstate seems ever to have been at in preparing its citizens for war.In ancient Rome the exercises of the Campus Martius answeredthe same purpose with those of the Gymnasium in ancient Greece.Under the feudal governments, the many public ordinances thatthe citizens of every district should practise archery as well asseveral other military exercises were intended for promoting thesame purpose, but do not seem to have promoted it so well.Eitherfrom want of interest in the officers entrusted with the executionof those ordinances, or from some other cause, they appear tohave been universally neglected; and in the progress of all thosegovernments, military exercises seem to have gone gradually intodisuse among the great body of the people.In the republics of ancient Greece and Rome, during the wholeperiod of their existence, and under the feudal governments for aconsiderable time after their first establishment, the trade of asoldier was not a separate, distinct trade, which constituted thesole or principal occupation of a particular class of citizens.Everysubject of the state, whatever might be the ordinary trade oroccupation by which he gained his livelihood, considered himself,upon all ordinary occasions, as fit likewise to exercise the trade ofa soldier, and upon many extraordinary occasions as bound toexercise it.Adam Smith ElecBook Classics The Wealth of Nations: Book 5 930The art of war, however, as it is certainly the noblest of all arts,so in the progress of improvement it necessarily becomes one ofthe most complicated among them.The state of the mechanical, aswell as of some other arts, with which it is necessarily connected,determines the degree of perfection to which it is capable of beingcarried at any particular time.But in order to carry it to thisdegree of perfection, it is necessary that it should become the soleor principal occupation of a particular class of citizens, and thedivision of labour is as necessary for the improvement of this, as ofevery other art.Into other arts the division of labour is naturallyintroduced by the prudence of individuals, who find that theypromote their private interest better by confining themselves to aparticular trade than by exercising a great number.But it is thewisdom of the state only which can render the trade of a soldier aparticular trade separate and distinct from all others.A privatecitizen who, in time of profound peace, and without any particularencouragement from the public, should spend the greater part ofhis time in military exercises, might, no doubt, both improvehimself very much in them, and amuse himself very well; but hecertainly would not promote his own interest.It is the wisdom ofthe state only which can render it for his interest to give up thegreater part of his time to this peculiar occupation: and states havenot always had this wisdom, even when their circumstances hadbecome such that the preservation of their existence required thatthey should have it.A shepherd has a great deal of leisure; a husbandman, in therude state of husbandry, has some; an artificer or manufacturerhas none at all.The first may, without any loss, employ a greatdeal of his time in martial exercises; the second may employ someAdam Smith ElecBook Classics The Wealth of Nations: Book 5 931part of it; but the last cannot employ a single hour in them withoutsome loss, and his attention to his own interest naturally leads himto neglect them altogether.These improvements in husbandry too,which the progress of arts and manufactures necessarilyintroduces, leave the husbandman as little leisure as the artificer [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]