What war is: "war, consisteth not in battle only, or the act of fighting; but in a tract of time, wherein the will to contend by battle is sufficiently known ..." (P 452a)

"Condition of mere nature" (P 455b): "the time men live without a common power to keep them all in awe ..." (P 452a)

In the condition of mere nature there is a war of "every man, against every man." (P 452a)

What our lives would be like in a condition of mere nature:

In such condition, there is no place for industry [constructive effort]; because the fruit [i.e., results, products] thereof is uncertain [e.g. liable to be taken from one]; and consequently no culture of the earth [agriculture]; no navigation [travel]; nor use of the commodities that may be imported by sea [trade]; no commodious building; no instruments of moving, and removing, such things as require much force [construction]; no knowledge of the face of the earth [geography]; no account of time [history]; no arts [learning]; no letters [literature]; no society [community]; and which is worst of all, continual fear, and danger of violent death; and the life of man, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short. (P 452ab)