Long and seriously the senate deliberated on the proposal of the consuls to lead the legions to the help of the Mamertines; it came to no decisive resolution.

But the burgesses, to whom the matter was referred, were animated by a lively sense of the greatness of the power which their own energy had established.

The conquest of Italy encouraged the Romans, as that of Greece encouraged the Macedonians and that of Silesia the Prussians, to enter upon a new political career.

A formal pretext for supporting the Mamertines was found in the protectorate which Rome claimed the right to exercise over all Italians.

The transmarine Italians were received into the Italian confederacy;( 3) and on the proposal of the consuls the citizens resolved to send them aid (489).
Variance between Rome and Carthage Carthaginians in Messana Messana Seized by the Romans War between the Romans and the Carthaginians and the Syracusans Much depended on the way in which the two Sicilian powers, immediately affected by this intervention of the Romans in the affairs of the island, and both hitherto nominally in alliance with Rome, would regard her interference.