arms. And eo on. Steinmetz'e viewe are so manifeetly absurd that it is unneceseary to diecuss them. But our theoretical heckler's more modest attempt to juetify . war on moral ground& deserve&to be treated eeriously. For that war is a school of virtue& ie in fact true. Courage, self-control, endurance, a spirit of comradeship, a readiness to make the sacrifice of life itself-these are the qualities without which men cannot become good soldiers, or at any rate good eubordinate soldiers; for history shows that a man may become a brilliant commander and yet be almost a moral imbecile. The two greatest military geniuses of modem times, Marlborough and Napoleon, were despicable human beings. There was something almost diabolic in the character of Frederick the Great. At the end of the world war almost the only member of the German High Command who displayed the military virtues was Hindenburg. The others disguised themselves and hurried across the frontier into the safety of a neutral country. Such examplee could be multiplied. "Great soldiers" have often lacked all the good qualities which we aesociate with the military profeesion. To return to the virtues of the subordinate soldier: these are intrinsically admirable. But do they justify war? This question cannot be answered unless we know, first, what is the price of these virtues in terms of individual vice and social ruin, and, second, whether war is the only school in which they can be learnt. Now, it is obvious that the soldier's characteristic virtues are accompanied by equally characteristic vices. The efficient soldier must hate and be angry, must know how to be inhuman, must be troubled, where his enemies are concerned, with no scruples or sensibilitiee. Moreover, his way of life tends to encourage in him certain recklessness. He doesn't care for anything or anyone except his fellows and the traditions of his corps. Recklessnese is a soil from which some good and much evil may spring-acts of uncommon generosity, but also acts of uncommon brutality. Nor is this all. Military discipline demands unqueetioning obedience. The subordinate soldier is a 12 Bib' oteca Gino Bianco
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