i. War (De bellis) 1. Ninus, king of the Assyrians, was the first to wage war. Not at all content with his own boundaries, this Ninus, breaking the compact of human society, began to lead armies, to destroy other lands, and to massacre or subject free peoples. He completely subjugated the whole of Asia up to the borders of Libya in an unprecedented slavery. From this point on the world strove to grow fat in reciprocal bloodshed with one slaughter after another.

2. Now there are four kinds of war: just, unjust, civil, and more than civil. A just war is that which is waged in accordance with a formal declaration and is waged for the sake of recovering property seized or of driving off the enemy. An unjust war is one that is begun out of rage, and not for a lawful reason. Cicero speaks of this in the Republic (3.35): “Those wars are unjust that are taken up without due cause, for except for the cause of avenging or of driving off the enemy no just war can be waged.” 3. And he adds this a little further on: “No war is considered just unless it is officially announced or declared, and unless it is fought to recover property seized.” Civil (civilis) war occurs when factions arise among fellow-citizens (civis) and hostilities are stirred up, as between Sulla and Marius, who waged civil war against each other within one nation.