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ANCIENT GREECE.[CHAP. xu.enemies. Were we more intimately acquainted with thehistory of the numberless political revolutions in Greecehow often would this same succession of events recur ? Butthough e are not wr always able to establish them by historical evidence, they cannot on the whole be doubted; andthey distinctly exhibit the close connexion which existedbetween the states and their judicial institutions.CHAPTER XII.THE ARMY AND NAVY.THOUGH wars were so frequent in Greece, the art of wardid not make any considerable advances. The constitutionsand the whole political condition opposed too many obstacles ;and war never became a science, in the full sense ofthe word, till standing armies were introduced. This hasalready been satisfactorily proved by history. There weresome individual commanders of great merit, who did allthat talents could do ;but all that they effected was personal. Besides, the extent of states sets limits to improvement. These bounds cannot be accurately marked, wheregenius and circumstances exercise so much influence ;butthe absolute strength must also necessarily be considered.The advancement and perfecting of the art of war requireexperiments on so large a scale, that small states cannotperform them.After the republican constitutions of the Greeks wereestablished, their armies consisted chiefly of militia.Everycitizen was obliged to serve in it, unless the state itselfmadeparticular exceptions. In Athens, the obligation continuedfrom the eighteenth to the fifty-eighth year ;we do notknow whether it was elsewhere the same ;but a great difference could hardly have existed.Each citizen was therefore a soldier;even the inqmlini, the resident strangers,were not always spared;1and there were times of distress,1They were at least obliged sometimes to do naval service. Demosth.Phil, i.Op. L p. 50.