With the complacency that followed their ‘victory’, the Roman aristocracy saw no need to mend their ways. The Italian allies were Roman subjects, and they would simply have to do as they were told. Yet at the same time, the Romans insisted that the Italian allies supply their army with troops trained and armoured to the standard of Roman legionaries. The incompatibility of these two polices – treating the Italians as a conquered people, and simultaneously insisting that they have large numbers of highly competent soldiery ready for action – never appears to have struck the senate as dangerous
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