If The Assailants Either Force The Strait, Or Storm
The Summit, They Gain Only So Much Ground; Their Enemies Are
Fled
to take possession of the next rock, and the pursuers stand at
gaze, knowing neither where the ways of
Escape wind among the
steeps, nor where the bog has firmness to sustain them: besides
that, mountaineers have an agility in climbing and descending
distinct from strength or courage, and attainable only by use.
If the war be not soon concluded, the invaders are dislodged by
hunger; for in those anxious and toilsome marches, provisions
cannot easily be carried, and are never to be found. The wealth of
mountains is cattle, which, while the men stand in the passes, the
women drive away. Such lands at last cannot repay the expence of
conquest, and therefore perhaps have not been so often invaded by
the mere ambition of dominion; as by resentment of robberies and
insults, or the desire of enjoying in security the more fruitful
provinces.
As mountains are long before they are conquered, they are likewise
long before they are civilized. Men are softened by intercourse
mutually profitable, and instructed by comparing their own notions
with those of others. Thus Caesar found the maritime parts of
Britain made less barbarous by their commerce with the Gauls. Into
a barren and rough tract no stranger is brought either by the hope
of gain or of pleasure. The inhabitants having neither commodities
for sale, nor money for purchase, seldom visit more polished
places, or if they do visit them, seldom return.
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