Key Arguments

• He grounds the justice of the enterprise in necessity.
• He sacralizes the means by asserting that arms are sacred when they are the only hope.

Source Quotes

For their undertakings were not more just than this, nor more easy, nor was God more their friend than yours. The justice of the cause is conspicuous; for that war is just which is necessary, and those arms are sacred from which we derive our only hope. Everywhere there is the strongest disposition to engage in this cause; and where the disposition is strong the difficulty cannot be great, provided you follow the methods observed by those whom I have set before you as models.

Key Concepts

• The justice of the cause is conspicuous; for that war is just which is necessary, and those arms are sacred from which we derive our only hope

Context

Chapter 26; normative justification for the proposed military enterprise.