this better by censure and remonstrance than by mild means, said that
"they had dared to say to the consuls what the consuls could not bring
their minds to declare in the senate; for that this was not refusal to
perform military service, but an open defection from the Roman people.
They desired, therefore, that they would return to their colonies
speedily, and that, considering the subject as untouched, as they had
only spoken of, but not attempted, so impious a business, they would
consult with their countrymen. That they would warn them that they
were not Campanians or Tarentines, but Romans; that from thence they
derived their origin, and thence were sent out into colonies and lands
captured from the enemy, for the purpose of increasing the population.
That they owed to the Romans what children owed to parents, if they
possessed any natural affection, or any gratitude towards their mother
country. That they should, therefore, consider the matter afresh; for
that certainly what they then so rashly meditated, was the betraying
the Roman empire, and putting the victory in the hands of Hannibal."
The consuls having spent a long time in exchanging arguments of this
kind, the ambassadors, who were not at all moved by what they said,
declared, that "they had nothing which they could carry home, nor
had their senate any thing fresh to devise, having neither men to be
enlisted, nor money to be furnished for pay." The consuls, seeing that
they were inflexible, laid the matter before the senate; where the
alarm excited in the minds of all was so great, that "the greater
part declared it was all over with the empire; that the rest of the
colonies would take the same course, and that all the allies had
conspired to betray the city of Rome to Hannibal."

10. The consuls endeavoured to encourage and console the senate,
telling them that "the other colonies would maintain their allegiance,
and continue in their former state of dutiful obedience, and that