§23.38.1dum haec in Lucanis atque in Hirpinis geruntur, quinque naves, quae Macedonum atque Poenorum captos legatos Romam portabant, ab supero mari ad inferum circumvectae prope omnem Italiae oram, §23.38.2cum praeter Cumas velis ferrentur neque, hostium an sociorum essent, satis sciretur, Gracchus obviam ex classe sua naves misit.
While these things were being done in Lucania and among the Hirpini, five ships, which were carrying the captured envoys of the Macedonians and Carthaginians to Rome, having sailed round almost the entire coast of Italy from the upper sea to the lower, when they were carried under sail past Cumae, and it was not sufficiently known whether they belonged to enemies or allies, Gracchus sent ships from his own fleet to meet them.
§23.38.3cum percunctando in vicem cognitum esset consulem Cumis esse, naves Cumas adpulsae captivique ad consulem deducti et litterae datae.
When by mutual questioning it was learned that the consul was at Cumae, the ships were brought to land at Cumae and the captives were conducted to the consul, and the letters were delivered.
§23.38.4consul litteris Philippi atque Hannibalis perlectis consignata omnia ad senatum itinere terrestri misit, navibus devehi legatos iussit.
The consul, having thoroughly read the letters of Philip and Hannibal, sent all the sealed documents to the senate by a land route, and ordered the envoys to be conveyed by the ships.
§23.38.5cum eodem fere die litterae legatique Romam venissent, et percunctatione facta dicta cum scriptis congruerent, primo gravis cura patres incessit cernentes, quanta vix tolerantibus Punicum bellum Macedonici belli moles instaret.
When on almost the same day the letters and the envoys had arrived at Rome, and when upon inquiry being made the spoken words agreed with the written documents, at first a heavy anxiety seized the senators as they saw how great a weight of a Macedonian war was threatening them, who were already scarcely enduring the Punic war.
§23.38.6cui tamen adeo non succubuerunt, ut extemplo agitaretur, quem ad modum ultro inferendo bello averterent ab Italia hostem.
Yet they so little succumbed to this that they immediately discussed how they might, by aggressively carrying the war abroad, turn the enemy away from Italy.
§23.38.7captivis in vincula condi iussis comitibusque eorum sub hasta venditis ad naves viginti quinque, quibus P. Valerius Flaccus praefectus praeerat, viginti quinque parari alias decernunt.
Having ordered the captives to be put in chains and their companions to be sold under the spear, they decreed that, in addition to the twenty-five ships which Publius Valerius Flaccus commanded, another twenty-five should be prepared.
§23.38.8his comparatis deductisque et additis quinque navibus, quae advexerant captivos legatos, §23.38.9triginta naves ab Ostia Tarentum profectae, iussusque P. Valerius militibus Varronianis, quibus L. Apustius legatus Tarenti praeerat, in naves inpositis quinquaginta quinque navium classe non tueri modo Italiae oram sed explorare de Macedonico bello; §23.38.10si congruentia litteris legatorumque indiciis Philippi consilia essent, §23.38.11ut M. Valerium praetorem litteris certiorem faceret, isque L. Apustio legato exercitui praeposito Tarentum ad classem profectus primo quoque tempore in Macedoniam transmitteret daretque operam, ut Philippum in regno contineret.
These having been prepared and launched, and the five ships which had brought the captured envoys being added, thirty ships set out from Ostia for Tarentum, and Publius Valerius was ordered, after putting on board the Varronian soldiers whom the legate Lucius Apustius commanded at Tarentum, not only to protect the coast of Italy with a fleet of fifty-five ships but also to reconnoiter concerning the Macedonian war; if the plans of Philip should be in agreement with the letters and the disclosures of the envoys, he was to inform the praetor Marcus Valerius by letter, and the latter, having placed the legate Lucius Apustius in command of the army, having set out for the fleet at Tarentum, was to cross over into Macedonia at the earliest opportunity and take care to keep Philip within his kingdom.
§23.38.12pecunia ad classem tuendam bellumque Macedonicum ea decreta est, quae Ap. Claudio in Siciliam missa erat, ut redderetur Hieroni regi; ea per L. Antistium legatum Tarentum est devecta.
The money decreed for maintaining the fleet and for the Macedonian war was that which had been sent to Appius Claudius in Sicily to be returned to King Hiero; this was conveyed to Tarentum by the legate Lucius Antistius.
§23.38.13simul ab Hierone missa ducenta milia modium tritici et hordei centum.
At the same time, two hundred thousand modii of wheat and a hundred thousand of barley were sent by Hiero.