Titus Livius (Livy), The History of Rome, Book 31
Evan T. Sage, Ph.D. Professor of Latin and Head of the Department of Classics in the University of Pittsburgh, Ed.

7. The consul therefore, at the meeting in the Campus Martius,¹ calling an informal meeting² [p. 21]before he put the question to the centuries, [2] spoke³ thus: “It seems to me, citizens, that you do not realize that the question before you is not whether you will have peace or war —for Philip will not leave that matter open for your decision, seeing that he is preparing a mighty war on land and sea —but whether you are to send your legions across to Macedonia or meet the enemy [3] in Italy. What a difference that makes, if you never knew before, you found out at least in the recent Punic war. For who doubts that if, when the Saguntines were besieged and were invoking our protection, we had promptly sent aid to them, as our fathers did to the Mamertines,⁴ we should have diverted the whole war to Spain, whereas by our delay we admitted it to Italy, with infinite losses [4] to ourselves? Nor is there any doubt in the case of this same Philip, when he had already bargained with Hannibal, through ambassadors and by means of letters, to invade Italy, that when we sent Laevinus with a fleet to begin an offensive campaign against him, we kept him [5] in Macedonia. And that which we did then, when we had Hannibal fighting in Italy, do we hesitate to do now, when Hannibal has been driven out and the [6] Carthaginians conquered? Let us permit the king by the capture of Athens, as we permitted Hannibal by the capture of Saguntum, to see how slow we are [7] to act: not in five months, as when Hannibal came from Saguntum, but in five days after he sets sail from Corinth, Philip will arrive [8] in Italy! You need not compare Philip with Hannibal nor the Macedonians with the Carthaginians; you will compare him at least with Pyrrhus.⁵ Compare, did I say? How great is the superiority, [p. 23]man to man or nation [9] to nation! Epirus⁶ has always⁷ been and is to-day a mere appendage to the Macedonian empire. Philip has under his control the whole of the Peloponnesus and Argos itself, famed not so much in ancient story as for the death [10] of Pyrrhus.⁸ Now compare our situation: How much more prosperous was Italy, how much greater her resources; her leaders alive, so many armies intact, which the Punic war later destroyed. Yet when Pyrrhus attacked he shattered her at a blow and came a conqueror almost to the gates [11] of Rome!⁹ Not only the Tarentines and that part of the Italian coast which men call' Greater Greece,' so that one would expect them to have followed the Greek language and name, but the Lucanian, the Bruttian, the Samnite revolted [12] from us. Do you think that these peoples will remain quiet and steadfast if Philip invades Italy? 'Yes,' you say, ' for they did in the later Punic war.' Never will these peoples fail to revolt unless there is no enemy at hand for them [13] to join. If you had been reluctant to invade Africa, you would have Hannibal and the Carthaginians fighting in Italy to-day. Let Macedonia, not Italy, have war; let it be the enemy's farms and cities that are laid waste with fire and sword. We have already learned from experience that our arms are more fortunate and powerful abroad than [14] at home. Go to vote, then, with the blessing of the gods, and ratify what the senate [15] has proposed. It is not the consul alone who supports this opinion before you: the immortal gods themselves favour it, for when I offered sacrifice and prayer that this war should turn out successfully for [p. 25]me, the senate and for you, for the allies and the¹⁰ Latin confederacy, and for our fleets and armies, they gave all favourable and propitious signs.”