But the senators, eager to conceal the weakness to which their egoism drove them, protested loudly against the words of Actæon. Who spoke of scoffing at the Republic of Rome? Who imagined that Hannibal would scorn the envoys of the Senate? Let the stranger maintain silence—he who was not even a son of the city in whose name he spoke.
Actæon bowed his head. Then, turning to his aged companions, who did not understand the resolution of the Senate, he murmured: "Our city is lost! Rome fears to declare war against Hannibal and delays the clash of arms. When they become ready to help us Saguntum will no longer exist!"
The three Saguntine legates received an order to retire. The senators were about to appoint two patricians who should go as envoys of Rome.
As they left the Senaculum the eldest of the senators addressed Actæon:
"Tell your companions to prepare for the journey. To-morrow at sunset you will embark with the legates of the Senate in the port of Ostia."
CHAPTER IX
THE HUNGRY CITY
The trireme conveying the Roman legates had been on her voyage more than fifteen days.
She had sailed up the coasts of the Tyrrhenian Sea; she had then crossed the Sea of Liguria, bound by abrupt coasts, and had passed before Massilia, the prosperous Grecian colony, also allied to Rome. Then, audaciously crossing the broad gulf, she had turned her prow toward Emporion, and had skirted the coasts of Iberia.
The ambassadors from Rome were the patricians Valerius Flaccus, one of those who desired to maintain the peace with prudent words, and Bæbius Tamphilus who enjoyed the love of the Roman plebs because of his sympathy for their sufferings.