Q. quoque Metelli cum gravis tum etiam alta in senatu sententia, qui devicta Carthagine nescire se illa victoria bonine plus an mali rei publicae attulisset adseveravit, quoniam ut pacem restituendo profuisset, ita Hannibalem summovendo nonnihil nocuisset: eius enim transitu in Italiam dormientem iam populi Romani virtutem excitatam, metuique debere ne acri aemulo liberata in eundem somnum revolveretur.
Q. Metellus too made a speech in the senate not only impressive but profound after the conquest of Carthage. He affirmed that he knew not whether that victory had brought more good or more harm to the commonwealth; by restoring peace it had done good, but by removing Hannibal it had done some measure of harm. For by his passage into Italy the dormant energy of the Roman people had been aroused and it was to be feared that freed of its fierce rival it would sink again into the same slumber.
final_alignments\Valerius_Memorable_Book7.json