29 When these
proceedings were reported to Cicero, he, being alarmed at the twofold danger,
since he could no longer secure the city against treachery by his private
efforts, nor could gain satisfactory intelligence of the magnitude or
intentions of the army of Manlius, laid the matter, which was already a subject
of discussion among the people, before the senate. The senate, accordingly, as
is usual in any perilous emergency, decreed that THE CONSULS SHOULD MAKE IT
THEIR CARE THAT THE COMMONWEALTH SHOULD RECEIVE NO INJURY. This is the greatest
power which, according to the practice at Rome, is granted by the senate to the
magistrate, and which authorizes him to raise troops; to make war; to assume
unlimited control over the allies and the citizens; to take the chief command
and jurisdiction at home and in the field, rights which, without an order of
the people, the consul is not permitted to exercise.
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