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Was then Hannibal an enemy, and is
Antonius a citizen? What did the one do like an enemy, that the other has not
done, or is not doing, or planning, and thinking of? What was there in the whole
of the journey of the Antonii; except depopulation, devastation, slaughter, and
rapine? Actions which Hannibal never did, because he was reserving many things
for his own use, these men do, as men who live merely for the present hour; they
never have given a thought not only to the fortunes and welfare of the citizens,
but not even to their own advantage.
Are we then, O ye good gods, to resolve to send ambassadors to this man? Are
those men who propose this acquainted with the constitution of the republic,
with the laws of war, with the precedents of our ancestors? Do they give a
thought to what the majesty of the Roman people and the severity of the senate
requires? Do you resolve to send ambassadors? If to beg his mercy, he will
despise you; if to declare your commands, he will not listen to them; and last
of all, however severe the message may be which we give the ambassadors, the
very name of ambassadors will extinguish this ardor of the Roman people which we
see at present, and break the spirit of the municipal towns and of Italy. To say nothing of these arguments,
though they are weighty, at all events that sending of an embassy will cause
delay and slowness to the war.
M. Tullius Cicero. The Orations of Marcus Tullius Cicero, literally translated by C. D. Yonge. London. George Bell & Sons. 1903.
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