Certaine Miscellany Works

Civil lawyers Civilians: scholars and practitioners of Roman Civil Law, who often wrote on the laws of war and nations define well that a legal fear is "a just fear that affects a steadfast man" original: Iustus Metus qui cadit in constantem Virum in private legal matters. Similarly, there is "a just fear that affects a steadfast Senate in a public cause" original: Iustus Metus qui cadit in constantem Senatum, in causâ publicâ. This fear does not arise from vague shadows, light jealousies, or distant apprehensions, but from a clear foresight of imminent danger.

Regarding this first proposition, it is helpful to hear what history original: "time" teaches. Thucydides, in the introduction to his history of the great Peloponnesian War, explains in plain terms that the true cause of that war was: the overgrowing greatness of the Athenians, and the fear the Lacedaemonians Spartans felt because of it. He does not hesitate to call it "a necessity for war imposed upon the Lacedaemonians," which are the words describing a purely defensive action. He adds that the other causes mentioned were merely specious and intended for public appeal.

"I believe that the truest cause, though least spoken of, was that the Athenians, having become great and terrifying to the Lacedaemonians, imposed on them the necessity of war. As for the causes that were openly declared by both sides..." original: Verissimam quidem, sed minimè sermone celebratam, arbitror extitisse Belli Causam, Athenienses magnos effectos, & Lacedemonijs formidolosos, necessitatem illis imposuisse Bellandi: Quæ autem propalam ferebantur utrinque...