And in the time of the
commonwealth, in that invasion which the Gauls made upon Italy, not
long before Hannibal came thither, they were grown so numerous, as
that their troops consisted of 700,000 foot and 70,000 horse; it is
true their allies were comprehended in this number, but the ordinary
people fit to bear arms being mustered in Rome and Campania,
amounted to 250,000 foot and 23,000 horse.
Nothing, therefore, can more contribute to the rendering England
populous and strong than to have liberty upon a right footing, and
our legal constitution firmly preserved. A nation may be as well
called free under a limited kingship as in a commonwealth, and it is
to this good form of our government that we partly owe that doubling
of the people which has probably happened here in the 435 years last
past. And if the ambition of some, and the mercenary temper of
others, should bring us at any time to alter our constitution, and
to give up our ancient rights, we shall find our numbers diminish
visibly and fast. For liberty encourages procreation, and not only
keeps our own inhabitants among us, but invites strangers to come
and live under the shelter of our laws.
The Romans, indeed, made use of an adventitious help to enlarge
their city, which was by incorporating foreign cities and nations
into their commonwealth; but this way is not without its mischiefs.
For the strangers in Rome by degrees had grown so numerous, and to
have so great a vote in the councils, that the whole Government
began to totter, and decline from its old to its new inhabitants,
which Fabius the censor observing, he applied a remedy in time by
reducing all the new citizens into four tribes, that being
contracted into so narrow a space, they might not have so malignant
an influence upon the city.
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