~>  DD> "No state has an inherent right to survive through conscript
~>  DD> troops and in the long run no state ever has. Roman matrons
~>  DD> used to say to their sons: "Come back with your shield, or
~>  DD> on it." Later on, this custom declined. So did Rome." --
~>  DD> Excerpt from the notebooks of Lazarus Long
 
~> Heinlein was wrong, it was Spartan mothers that told their sons to
~> come back with their shield or on it.  Just a few centuries before
~> Rome...

In Heinlein's defense (but not DD), he was plagiarizing Henry Adams.
 
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