The Assembly was duly convened in the Campus Martius, and before the question was put to the vote, the consul addressed the centuries in the following terms:“You seem to be unaware, Quirites, that what you have to decide is not whether you will have peace or war:Philip will not leave you anv option as to that. he is Drenanne war on an enormous scale both by land and sea. The only question is whether you will transport the legions into Macedonia or wait for the enemy in Italy. You have learnt by experience, if not before, at all events in the late Punic War, what a difference it makes which you decide upon. When Saguntum was beseiged and our allies were imploring us for help, who doubts that if we had sent prompt assistance, as our fathers did to the Mamertines, we should have confined within the borders of Spain that war which, most disastrously for qurselves, we allowed through procrastination to enter Italy. Why, this very Philip had into an agreement with Hannibal through his agents 仲朴介sendins his despatches that he would invade Italy, and there is smallest doubt that we kept him in Macedonia by Laevinus with a fleet to take the offensive against him. Are we hesitating to do now what we did then when we had Hannibal for our enemv in Italy--now that Hannibal has been driven out of Italy and out of Carthaze. and Carthage itself 一一’。一~~一·~~一一J一‘一，一.，‘一‘.‘舀一匕丫，一‘分~~‘.“一匕，“曰.“ is completely vanquished?If we allow the kinLy to make proof of our slackness by storming Athens as we allowed Hannibal to do by sto. t ' TT呵ng‘ Saguntum, it will nott r w，be in five months-me 'tune riannioal_ took from aaguntum丁but一live days after he黔s from Corui专h that he恻set foot in Italy.，__ rernaps you co not put rmtip on a par_ with tlanni bat or consider the Macedonians equal to the Carthaginians. At all events you will consider him the equal of Pyrrhus. Equal, do I say' How greatly the one man surpasses the other, how superior is the one nation to the other!Epirus always has been and is to-day a very small accession to the kingdom of Macedonia. The whole of the Peloponnese is under the sw Philip, not excepting even Arzos. famous for the dea a.引叼 夕，n OO 呀J产 state Pyrrhus, quite as much as for its ancient glory." Now compare our position. Consider the flourishingof Italy when all those generals and armies were safe and swhich have been since swept away by the Punic War. ound And yet when Pyrrhus attacked it, he shook it to its foundations and all but reached Rome itself in his victorious career!Not only did the Tarentines revolt from us and the whole of that coastal district of Italy called Magna Graecia, which you would naturally suppose would follow a leader of the same language and nationality as themselves, but the Lucanians, the Bruttians an代the. Samnites did the1 " T. 1 .1。same. Do， you suppose that， if Philip land胆_in Italy, these_ nations would remain quiet and -true to us?They showed their loyalty, I suppose, in the Punic War .3 No, those nations will never fail to revolt from us, unless there+T产，no妙ger any， one to whom， they can revolt.1 . 1 1 " t A w lI you naa thought 1t too much to go to Africa you would1 1 T'T " 1 1 I'll r .11 . " 9r. } . nave‘ had nanniDal aria his， tArthaginians in Italy to-clay. Let Macedonia rather than Italy De the seat of war, let it be the enemy's cities and fields that are devastated with fire and sword. We have learnt by this time that our arms are more potent and more successful abroad than they are at home. Go to the Doll with the help of the nods. and confirm the decision of the senate. It is not your consul only who urges you to take this course, the immortal gods also bid you do it, for when I was offering up the sacrifices and praying that this war might end happily for the senate, for myself, for you, for our allies and Latin confederates, for our fleets and armies, the gods vouchsafed every cheering and happy omen."