"Unity is indeed a thing to be strived for," Casca replied. "However, what you propose is not unity. Do you not agree? No? Then look at your own remarks.

"'Two armies working separately'. This does not present the unity you seem to want! Every man here who has spent their time on a battlefield knows that an army can NOT have two commanders. You say, 'well, there will be two armies'. Two armies on one battlefield? Why yes! Us, and the enemy. There can be no room for anything else.

"If a provincial governor of say, Cyrenaica, is called upon for assistance in, say, putting down a rebellion in Aegyptus, then yes, it is well within his rights to turn it down. Your legislation makes no mark on that fact. If, however, the governor of Cyrenaica is good hearted and selfless enough, he will say 'Yes, my dear Governor of Aegyptus, have these three legions to work with, but remember, they have to come back sooner or later!'

"He does NOT, and SHALL not, say 'Ok, I'm heading over. I will retain command of my legions, you'll retain yours. If you order one of my legions in the midst of a fierce battle to take a flanking maneuver, and I disagree, they will follow MY orders, not yours'.

"Senators, have we forgotten Arausio? There, two commanders in command of two armies, each army responsible only to their own commander, disagreed over a fact so petty as lineage. And Rome paid for it. Not just with the lives lost at Arausio itself, but with the Marsic war which followed later.

"This bill, Quintus Servilius, would legalize the antics we saw at Arausio. This bill would provide for two separate commanders in the field. This bill is NOT about unity. This bill is the very essence of disunity.

"Let the record show, Conscript Fathers, that I, Lucius Servilius Casca, have voted against this bill for the reasons outlined above. You cannot have a unity of action when there are legions in the field who report to different commanders.

"It is a fact of war."

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