ut in there, the captives were brought
before the consul, and their letters placed in his hands. The consul,
after he had read the letters of Philip and Hannibal, sent them all,
sealed up, to the senate by land, ordering that the ambassadors should
be conveyed thither by sea. The ambassadors and the letters arriving
at Rome nearly on the same day, and on examination the answers of the
ambassadors corresponding with the contents of the letters, at first
intense anxiety oppressed the fathers, on seeing what a formidable war
with Macedonia threatened them, when with difficulty bearing up
against the Punic war; yet so far were they from sinking under their
calamities, that they immediately began to consider how they might
divert the enemy from Italy, by commencing hostilities themselves.
After ordering the prisoners to be confined in chains, and selling
their attendants by public auction, they decreed, that twenty more
ships should be got ready, in addition to the twenty-five ships which
Publius Valerius Flaccus had been appointed to command. These being
provided and launched, and augmented by the five ships which had
conveyed the captive ambassadors to Rome, a fleet of fifty ships set
sail from Ostia to Tarentum. Publius Valerius was ordered to put on
board the soldiers of Varro, which Lucius Apustius,
lieutenant-general, commanded at Tarentum; and, with this fleet of
fifty ships, not only to protect the coast of Italy, but also to make
inquiry respecting the Macedonian war. If the plans of Philip
corresponded with his letter, and the discoveries made by his
ambassadors, he was directed to acquaint the praetor, Marcus Valerius,
with it, who, leaving Lucius Apustius, lieutenant-general, in command
of the army, and going to Tarentum to the fleet, was to cross over to
Macedonia with all speed, and endeavour to detain Philip in his own
dominions. The money which had been sent into Sicily to Appius
Claudius, to be repaid to Hiero, was assigned for the support of the
fleet and the maintenance of the Macedonian war. This money was
conveyed to Tarentum, by Lucius Apustius, lieutenant-general, and with
it Hiero sent two hundred thousand pecks of wheat, and a hundred
thousand of barley.

39. While the Romans were engaged in these preparations and
transactions, the captured ship, which formed one of those which had
been sent to Rome, made its escape on the voyage and returned to
Philip; from which source it became known that the amb