"Countless times we had faced death in battle. Our troops were often outnumbered, our leaders weak, the enemy fearsome, the weather foul, the footing treacherous. Death was always about to call our name. But in those battles, we depended upon the person near us to protect us. Our own strength and valor would save us. The battlefield was a circumscribed world far from Rome and if we fell, no one in our families would be deprived of life, only us. Now...