The Curia

[everyone]

Asina, after much deliberation, stood up

Since Legatus Cotta seems to be in a reverie (OOC: offline), I shall answer this question, though I am not representing him.

To answer your questions:
Our two legions combined outnumber the seperate armies of Aemilia and Liguria each by a comfortable margin; our only main threat are those wildmen known as "gaesatae"; but they are still men and could be felled by a blade in their innards.
Yes, we are able to replace our soldiers relatively fast; troops can be raised immediately from neighbouring provinces and replacements would be stationed there; since it is my job as the new Legion of the Consuls to provide sufficient troops, I shall not fail in that task.
Though the garrison of our southern provinces are slightly weak, it is unlikely that any sizable force would arrive from there.
The northern tribes (of Italia) are stronger than those of Sicilia, but an invasion of Sicilia now would not be a wise move as our allies, the Poeni, consider Sicilia under their sphere of influence; if we intrude, we might face a war and lose a valuable trading partner and leave our ports vulnerable to blockades.

As for a possible invasion of Greece, I don't think that's possible with the current resources we have; and it would incur a lot of expenses as we have to build a fleet, deal with logistics, and reports show that Pyrrhus and his Epirotes have a strong base in Greece

[/Bean\]

Cotta stands again, after his previous mind wandering (ooc: Cotta actually went to get his hair cut, then had a (edit: lovely, long, hot) shower, so may have appeared 'offline' to his fellow senators).

Thank you Consul. I hope this justifies our reasons, Tribune Aemillivs. As for your seeming reluctance to travel north, I can answer this only through your own desire. We live in a warm climate, it is true, and it does get warmer to the south. But if our soldiers waged war simply according to the levels of warmth during the colder seasons, we would not be powerful at all. Struggles and hardships make a soldier, not warm climates and comfy beds.

[Potocello]

Servivs Longvs sits in the corner pondering what has been said throughout the Senate chamber. He quickly makes up his mind and decides to stand. Looking at the senators he says...

"Good senators, Dux Asina and Legatus Cotta are best looking out for the interests of Roma. If we invade to the north, not only will we unite Italy, but our soldiers will gain much more experience fighting the ruthless barbarians in the north. As Legatus Cotta said, "struggles and hardships make a soldier, not warm climates and comfy beds." Plus, can we risk the concequences of what is to come if we break the treaty and invade Sicily? The world will no longer look upon Roma as the honorable nation we are, but will put us on a level comparable to those naked barbarians in the north. Senators, listen to these wise men and vote to move our armies north to defeat the barbarians.

Servivs sits, waiting for the replies from his fellow senators.

[/Bean\]

Boldly, Cotta stands again.

Senators, it seems support against the strike north is waning. I can no longer see any valued argument against it, and indeed the Consul and the Dictator have spoken in favour of it. I believe any continued aggression to this edict may be seen as a personal attack or the sake of argument; not something we promote within this chamber. Therefore I propose that this matter may now be moved aside until the voting, and we can concentrate on other matters of state; other edicts.

[YouHaveRecieved]

Ave Senators.

I am Titus Valerius Maximus of the proud family Valeria. I have recently been entered into the Senate as a Partician. Anyway down to buisness.

My clerk has recently enlightened me on the past talking of the Senate so I will begin with my thoughts. I have no pity for pety alliances with Carthage or any other Africans for that matter. Though Sicily is going to be one of the biggest trade centres of the Western Mediterranian in a few years, I believe it to risky. We have two proper Legions at the moment and Sicily is a big island. Greeks, mercanarys and African Nobles defend near all towns.

Our north however is fragile, and likely to collapse without further funding or reinforcements. Do you want Gauls to invade or a bunch of geese to get us out of bed in the nick of time? Bononia is ripe for the taking. The Arveni are in constant conflict with Audie and Patavium would also be ill-defended, in which time Mediolanum will also suffer the same fate. The Ligurians will defy us to the last, and we should seek peace with them for now, their stronghold of Segesta will have to wait.

After that I belive we should build up our infastructure including our navy. We commands postitions and the like before we can challenge Carthage. Their many fleets can easily support their island holdings.

Titus nods to the Senators to thank them for listening.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Sorry I replace all the V's with U's just for practicality.

[Potocello]

Servivs stands

I second Cotta's motion to move to other topics.

Servivs sits

[Mjolnir]

Fellow Senators, I have been informed that the two Greek colonies recently captured by the Republic are being governed as Provincia Romanae rather than as Adminstratio Regionum Italicara as has always been done in the past. While I have no quarrel with that decision since it will allow us wider recruitment, the issue of how we plan on governing the northern provinces we take does need to be addressed. On the one hand we can fully incorporate them into our Republic and gain their full loyalty and manpower and on the other we can take the quicker and cheaper route of setting up a puppet ruler and gain access to mercenaries and economic benefits or perhaps something in between? Perhaps one of the Consuls or older Senators would like to put forth a proposal?