§31.3.1cum primum senatum habuit, universis postulantibus, ne quam prius rem quam de Philippo ac sociorum querellis ageret, relatum extemplo est; §31.3.2decrevitque frequens senatus, ut P. Aelius consul quem videretur ei cum imperio mitteret, qui classe accepta, quam ex Sicilia Cn. Octavius reduceret, in Macedoniam traiceret.
As soon as the consul held the senate, with everyone demanding that he should deal with no business prior to that concerning Philip and the complaints of the allies, the matter was immediately brought forward; and a full senate decreed that the consul Publius Aelius should send someone who seemed appropriate to him with imperium, who, having received the fleet which Gnaeus Octavius was bringing back from Sicily, should cross over into Macedonia.
§31.3.3M. Valerius Laevinus propraetor missus circa Vibonem duodequadraginta navibus ab Cn. Octavio acceptis in Macedoniam transmisit.
Marcus Valerius Laevinus, sent as propraetor, having received thirty-eight ships from Gnaeus Octavius near Vibo, crossed over into Macedonia.
§31.3.4ad quem cum M. Aurelius legatus venisset edocuissetque eum, quantos exercitus, §31.3.5quantum navium numerum comparasset rex, quem ad modum circa omnis non continentis modo urbes sed etiam insulas partim ipse adeundo, partim per legatos conciret homines ad arma: §31.3.6maiore conatu Romanis id capessendum bellum esse, ne cunctantibus iis auderet Philippus, quod Pyrrhus prius ausus ex aliquanto minore regno esset, haec scribere eadem Aurelium consulibus senatuique placuit.
When the envoy Marcus Aurelius had come to him and had informed him of how great an army, how great a number of ships the king had prepared, and in what manner, throughout all the cities not only of the continent but also of the islands, partly by going in person, partly through envoys, he was stirring up men to arms: and that this war had to be undertaken by the Romans with greater effort, lest, while they delayed, Philip should dare to do what Pyrrhus had previously dared to do from a considerably smaller kingdom—it was resolved that Aurelius should write these same things to the consuls and the senate.