§35.33.1multitudo avida novandi res Antiochi tota erat, et ne admittendos quidem in concilium Romanos censebant; principum maxime seniores auctoritate obtinuerunt ut daretur iis concilium.
The multitude was entirely eager to revolutionize affairs and was on the side of Antiochus, and they even judged that the Romans should not be admitted to the assembly; it was chiefly the elders of the leading men who by their authority prevailed that an assembly should be granted to them.
§35.33.2hoc decretum Athenienses cum rettulissent, eundum in Aetoliam Quinctio visum est: §35.33.3aut enim moturum aliquid, aut omnis homines testes fore penes Aetolos culpam belli esse, Romanos iusta ac prope necessaria sumpturos arma.
When the Athenians had reported this decree, it seemed to Quinctius that he must go to Aetolia: for he believed either that he would effect something, or that all men would be witnesses that the guilt of the war lay with the Aetolians, and that the Romans would take up arms that were just and almost necessary.
§35.33.4postquam ventum est eo, Quinctius in concilio orsus a principio societatis Aetolorum cum Romanis, et quotiens ab iis fides mota foederis esset, pauca de iure civitatium, §35.33.5de quibus ambigeretur, disseruit: si quid tamen aequi se habere arbitrarentur, quanto esse satius Romam mittere legatos, §35.33.6seu disceptare seu rogare senatum mallent, quam populum Romanum cum Antiocho lanistis Aetolis non sine magno motu generis humani et pernicie Graeciae dimicare? nec ullos prius cladem eius belli sensuros, quam qui movissent.
After they arrived there, Quinctius, having begun in the assembly from the beginning of the alliance of the Aetolians with the Romans, and mentioning how many times the faith of the treaty had been violated by them, discussed briefly the rights of the states concerning which there was dispute: yet if they thought they had any justice on their side, how much better it would be to send envoys to Rome, whether they preferred to debate or to petition the senate, than that the Roman people, with the Aetolians acting as gladiatorial trainers, should contend with Antiochus, not without a great commotion of the human race and the ruin of Greece? And indeed, that no others would feel the disaster of that war sooner than those who had stirred it up.
§35.33.7haec nequiquam velut vaticinatus Romanus.
Thus the Roman spoke in vain, as if prophesying.
Thoas deinde ceterique factionis eiusdem cum adsensu omnium auditi pervicerunt, §35.33.8ut ne dilato quidem concilio et absentibus Romanis decretum fieret, quo accerseretur Antiochus ad liberandam Graeciam disceptandumque inter Aetolos et Romanos.
Then Thoas and the others of the same faction, heard with the approval of all, prevailed, so that without even postponing the assembly, and in the absence of the Romans, a decree was made by which Antiochus should be summoned to liberate Greece and to arbitrate between the Aetolians and the Romans.
§35.33.9huic tam superbo decreto addidit propriam contumeliam Damocritus praetor eorum: nam cum id ipsum decretum posceret eum Quinctius, non veritus maiestatem viri aliud in praesentia, §35.33.10quod magis instaret, praevertendum sibi esse dixit; decretum responsumque in Italia brevi castris super ripam Tiberis positis daturum: §35.33.11tantus furor illo tempore gentem Aetolorum, tantus magistratus eorum cepit.
To this so arrogant a decree Damocritus, their praetor, added a personal insult: for when Quinctius demanded of him that very decree, not fearing the dignity of the man, he said that at present he had to attend to another matter which was more pressing; and that he would shortly give the decree and the answer in Italy, after pitching his camp on the bank of the Tiber: such great madness at that time possessed the nation of the Aetolians, such great madness possessed their magistrates.