lest he should offend the minds of the veterans."[1] It is objected to the proposal to recognise Marcus Brutus as commander-in-chief in Macedonia, that "we do not know how the veterans may take it."[2] Cicero replies:" What, in the name of all that is mischievous, do you mean by always putting forward the name of the veterans as an answer to every righteous proposal? Though I may respect their valour, as I do, that is no reason why I should bow to their caprices. Here we are striving to burst the bonds of servitude, and we are to be stopped because some one says that the veterans will not like it! Are not thousands rushing to arms at the call of liberty? Is there no one beside the veteran soldiers, who is stirred by the indignation of a freeman? . . . Finally (for the words of truth and honour will escape from my lips), if the resolutions of this House are to be at the beck of the veterans, if all our deeds and words are to be fashioned to their will, it is better to take refuge in death, which Romans have always preferred to servitude."[3]
Cicero spoke as a prophet. The hard conditions of the time were such that the soldiers could impose the alternative of submission or death. The centre of power had indeed shifted, and now lay with the veterans. The standing army, disciplined by long service in foreign and domestic war, was an admirable fighting engine, before which hastily levied contingents must of necessity go down. But it was also
