uence over them individually, and, partly by conciliation, partly
by authority, prevailed so far as to make them consent that the powers
of the tribunician office should be beneficial to the state; and by
the aid of four tribunes against one obstructor of the public good,
the consuls carried out the levy. They then set out to the war against
Veii, to which auxiliaries had assembled from all parts of Etruria,
not so much influenced by feelings of regard for the Veientines,
as because they had formed a hope that the power of Rome could be
destroyed by internal discord. And in the general councils of all the
states of Etruria the leading men murmured that the power of Rome
would last forever, unless they were distracted by disturbances among
themselves: that this was the only poison, this the bane discovered
for powerful states, to render mighty empires mortal: that this evil,
a long time checked, partly by the wise measures of the patricians,
partly by the forbearance of the commons, had now proceeded to
extremities: that two states were now formed out of one: that each
party had its own magistrates, its own laws: that, although at first
they were accustomed to be turbulent during the levies, still these
same individuals had notwithstanding ever been obedient to their
commanders during war: that as long as military discipline was
retained, no matter what might be the state of the city, the evil
might have been withstood: but that now the custom of not obeying
their officers followed the Roman soldier even to the camp: that in
the last war, even in a regular engagement and in the very heat of
battle, by consent of the army the victory had been voluntarily
surrendered to the vanquished Aequans: that the standards had been
deserted, the general abandoned on the field, and that the army had
returned to camp without orders: without doubt, if they persevered,
Rome might be conquered by means of her own soldiery: nothing else was
necessary save a declaration and show of war: the fates and the
gods would of themselves manage the rest. These hopes had armed the
Etruscans, who by many changes of fortune had been vanquished and
victors in turn.

The Roman consuls also dreaded nothing else but their own strength and
their own arms. The recollection of the most mischievous precedent set
in the last war was a terrible warning to them not to let matters
go so far that they would have two armies to fear at the same time.
Accordingly, th