Page:Essays, Moral and Political - David Hume (1741).djvu/195

 Cataline's Army was much augmented by the Accession of the Highway-men about Rome; tho' I believe, that all of that Profession, who are at present dispers'd over Europe, would not amount to a Regiment. In Cicero's Pleadings for Milo, I find this Argument, among others, made Use of to prove, that his Client had not assassinated Clodius. Had Milo, says he, intended to have kill'd Clodius, he had not attack'd him in the Day-time, and at such a Distance from the City: He had Way-laid him at Night, near the Suburbs, where it might have been pretended, that he was kill'd by Robbers; and the Frequency of the Accident would have favour'd the Deceit. This is a surprizing Proof of the loose Police of Rome, and of the Number and Force of these Robbers; since Clodius, as we learn from the same Oration, was at that Time attended with Sixty Slaves, who were compleatly arm'd, and, by the Roman Laws, answerable, upon their own Lives, for the Life of their Master.

tho' all Kinds of Government be much improv'd in modern Times, yet Monarchical Government seems to have receiv'd the most considerable Improvements. It may now be