[QUINTUS]: First Consul Aemilius, I believe it would be better if you proposed an alternative motion to 5.2, as that was clearly intended to be a mandate for conquest.

I would also note that extermination of settlements is an act so extreme that this house was constituted with a strict prohibition on its commission. Only reluctantly, did I consent to Carthage being exempted from that prohibition and indeed I have ammended motion 5.2 so that so severe a measure is not mandated. Carthage is a great city and a great prize - few other cities will ever rival its size or potential. To take and then abandon such a prize seems perverse.

Senator Swordsmaster, on motion 5.4, I believe much of Dalmatia is occupied by Macedon. As such I would class your proposal along with that of taking the war to Greece as a step too far at the current moment.

Also on motion 5.3, I would note that all settlements anywhere in the known world that are capable of having walls already have them in some form. The lack of defensible walls is a fact of geography, not a decision of ours.