But they spring in general from utter heartlessness.
No war ought ever to be undertaken but under circumstances which render all interchange of courtesy between the combatants impossible.

It is a bad thing that men should hate each other; but it is far worse that they should contract the habit of cutting one another's throats without hatred.

War is never lenient, but where it is wanton; when men are compelled to fight in selfdefence, they must hate and avenge: this may be bad; but it is human nature; it is the clay as it came from the hand of the potter.
It is true that among the dependencies of Athens seditions assumed a character more ferocious than even in France, during the reign of terror--the accursed Saturnalia of an accursed bondage.

It is true that in Athens itself, where such convulsions were scarcely known, the condition of the higher orders was disagreeable; that they were compelled to contribute large sums for the service or the amusement of the public; and that they were sometimes harassed by vexatious informers.

Whenever such cases occur, Mr Mitford's scepticism vanishes.
The "if," the "but," the "it is said," the "if we may believe," with which he qualifies every charge against a tyrant or an aristocracy, are at once abandoned.