31.32
At the
conclusion of this speech the unanimous feeling was in favour of the
Romans. Damocritus, the chief magistrate of the Aetolians, who was
currently reported to have been bribed by the king, refused to support either
side. "In a matter of such serious consequence," he said, "nothing is so fatal
to wise counsels as doing things in a hurry. This is followed by quick
repentance which, however, is too late, and quite unavailing; decisions
hastily and precipitately formed cannot be recalled, nor can the mischief be
undone." He thought that an interval ought to be allowed for mature
deliberation, and the time could be fixed there and then. As they were
forbidden by law to discuss questions of peace and war anywhere but in the
Pan-Aetolian Council, they ought at once to pass a decree exempting the
chief magistrate from all penalties, if he summoned a council when he
thought the time had come to submit the question of peace and war, and the
decrees of that council should have the same force and validity as though
they had been passed in a regular Pan-Aetolian Council. After the matter was
adjourned the envoys were dismissed, and Damocritus said that the decision
come to was in the highest degree favourable to the nation, for whichever
side had the better fortune in the war, that side they would be able to join.
Such were the proceedings in the Pan-Aetolian Council.