War in Ancient India c7.s4.15

c7.s4.15

This raises the question whether soldiers were drawn also from the Brahman caste. There is no evidence anywhere that the State itself enlisted these people. But if members of this caste volunteered their services, no doubt, they were admitted to the ranks. The army of Brahmans, says the Arthaśāstra, could be won by means of supplication (praṇipāta). That of the the Roman world, and the most important events of the reign of Constantine are thus represented as the immediate consequences of his conversion. But the historian, who must be content with the evidence of the times, will not be easily persuaded that the zeal of Constantine was not stimulated by the hope of political advantage, or that the conversion of the empire was not the result of a long and gradual process of change.