Shakespeare's "As You Like It"?

I've seen two full productions of AYLI and parts of two others, (not to mention teaching it quite a few times), and I can't see any reason for soldiers, unless maybe Duke Frederick goes around with a group of bodyguards. The Lords are the nobles of the duchy who have remained loyal to Duke Senior to the extent of sharing his banishment, and they create the illusion of a court for him in the forest. (You'll notice that, although Rosalind and Celia have rented a cottage, we never see how the Duke lives.) As long as the usurping Frederick rules the duchy, the men are at risk of losing their lands and titles--or they must choose between such loss and the loss of integrity that they would incur if they chose to return to court and serve the usurper instead of their rightful Duke.

So the play is about one of Shakespeare's favorite themes--usurpation. Since the play is a comedy, the lawful ruler has merely been deposed, not killed, and that ruler is merely a duke rather than an anointed king, to depose whom would be a much more serious crime. But unlike The Tempest, in which the deposed Duke is the protagonist, AYLI makes the deposed Duke a secondary character and focuses on his daughter. Like all of Shakespeare's best comedies, AYLI is also about romantic love.