§32.20.1postero die advocatur concilium; ubi cum per praeconem, sicut Graecis mos est, suadendi, si quis vellet, potestas a magistratibus facta esset, nec quisquam prodiret, diu silentium aliorum alios intuentium fuit.
On the following day the council was summoned; when there, through the herald, as is the custom of the Greeks, the power of advising, if anyone wished, was granted by the magistrates, and yet no one came forward, there was for a long time a silence of men looking at one another.
§32.20.2neque mirum, si, quibus sua sponte volutantibus res inter se repugnantes obtorpuerant quodam modo animi, eos orationes quoque insuper turbaverant utrimque, quae difficilia essent, promendo admonendoque per totum diem habitae.
Nor is it a wonder if, to those whose minds, as they revolved in their own thoughts mutually conflicting matters, had become in a manner numb, the speeches also on both sides, delivered through the whole day by presenting and warning of difficult things, had further confused them.
§32.20.3tandem Aristaenus, praetor Achaeorum, ne tacitum concilium dimitteret, “ubi” inquit “illa certamina animorum, Achaei, sunt, quibus in conviviis et circulis, cum de Philippo et Romanis mentio incidit, vix manibus temperatis?
At length Aristaenus, the praetor of the Achaeans, lest he should dismiss a silent council, said: "Where, O Achaeans, are those contests of mind, in which, at banquets and social circles, when mention of Philip and the Romans occurred, you scarcely restrained your hands?
§32.20.4nunc in concilio ad eam rem unam indicto, cum legatorum utrimque verba audieritis, cum referant magistratus, cum praeco ad suadendum vocet,
Now, in a council summoned for that one matter, when you have heard the words of the ambassadors on both sides, when the magistrates lay the matter before you, when the herald calls you to advise, you have become mute!
§32.20.5obmutuistis! si non cura salutis communis, ne studia quidem, quae in hanc aut in illam partem animos vestros inclinarunt, vocem cuiquam possunt exprimere?
If the care for the common safety does not, cannot even those zeal which have inclined your minds to this side or that, squeeze a word from anyone?
§32.20.6cum praesertim nemo tam hebes sit, qui ignorare possit dicendi ac suadendi, quod quisque aut velit aut optimum putet, nunc occasionem esse, priusquam quicquam decernamus; ubi semel decretum erit, omnibus id, etiam quibus ante displicuerit, pro bono atque utili fore defendendum. ” §32.20.7haec adhortatio praetoris non modo quemquam unum elicuit ad suadendum, sed ne fremitum quidem aut murmur contionis tantae ex tot populis congregatae movit.
Especially since there is no one so dull who cannot know that the opportunity for speaking and advising what each either wishes or thinks best is now, before we decree anything; but once it has been decreed, that must be defended by all as good and useful, even by those to whom it previously displeased." This exhortation of the praetor not only did not draw out any single person to advise, but did not even stir a murmur or whisper of so great an assembly gathered from so many states.