It was necessary that they should come to a decision.

That the civic militia knew only how to run away from the Romans, had been made sufficiently clear.

There remained only the choice between a peace with Rome, which the Romans still were ready to agree to on equitable terms, and a treaty with Pyrrhus on any condition that the king might think proper; or, in other words, the choice between submission to the supremacy of Rome, and subjection to the -- tyrannis-- of a Greek soldier.
Pyrrhus Summoned to Italy The parties in the city were almost equally balanced.

At length the ascendency remained with the national party--a result, that was due partly to the justifiable predilection which led them, if they must yield to a master at all, to prefer a Greek to a barbarian, but partly also to the dread of the demagogues that Rome, notwithstanding the moderation now forced upon it by circumstances, would not neglect on a fitting opportunity to exact vengeance for the outrages perpetrated by the Tarentine rabble.

The city, accordingly, came to terms with Pyrrhus.