Liv. 22.55.1P. Fūrius Philus et M. Pompōnius praetōrēs senātum in cūriam Hostīliam vocāvērunt, ut dē urbis custōdiā cōnsulerent;Publius Furius Philus and Marcus Pomponius, the praetors, summoned the senate to the Curia Hostilia to deliberate on the defence of the city; Liv. 22.55.2neque enim dubitābant dēlētīs exercitibus hostem ad oppugnandam Rōmam, quod ūnum opus bellī restāret, ventūrum.for they did not doubt that, with the armies destroyed, the enemy would come to attack Rome, the one task of the war that remained. Liv. 22.55.3Cum in malīs sīcutī ingentibus ita ignōtīs nē cōnsilium quidem satis expedīrent, obstreperetque clamor lāmentantium mulierum, et nōndum palam factō vīvī mortuīque per omnēs paene domōs prōmiscuē conplōrārentur, tum Q. Fabius Maximus cēnsuit equitēs expedītōs et Appiā et Latīnā viā mittendōs, quī obviōs percunctandō — aliquōs profectō ex fugā passim dissipātōs fore — referant, quae fortūna cōnsulum atque exercituum sit et, sī quid Diī immortālēs, miseritī imperiī, reliquum Rōmānī nōminis fēcerint, ubi eae cōpiae sint;When, amid evils as unfamiliar as they were vast, they could not even settle on a plan, and the cries of wailing women drowned out their voices, and, since nothing had yet been made public, the living and the dead were mourned indiscriminately in almost every house, then Quintus Fabius Maximus proposed that light horsemen should be sent along both the Appian and the Latin Way, to question those they met (there would surely be some scattered everywhere from the flight) and report back what was the fortune of the consuls and the armies, and, if the immortal gods, pitying the empire, had left anything of the Roman name, where those forces were; Liv. 22.55.5quō sē Hannibal post proelium contulerit, quid paret, quid agat āctūrusque sit.where Hannibal had gone after the battle, what he was preparing, what he was doing and was going to do.
Liv. 22.55.6Haec explōranda nōscendaque per inpigrōs iuvenēs esse;These things should be searched out and learned through energetic young men; Liv. 22.55.6illud per patrēs ipsōs agendum, quoniam magistrātuum parum sit, ut tumultum ac trepidātiōnem in urbe tollant: mātronās pūblicō arceant continērīque intrā suum quamque līmen cōgant, conplōrātūs familiārum coerceant, silentium per urbem faciant, nūntiōs rērum omnium ad praetōrēs dēdūcendōs cūrent — suae quisque fortūnae domī auctōrem expectent — custōdēsque praetereā ad portās pōnant, quī prohibeant quemquam ēgredī urbe, cōgantque hominēs nūllam nisi urbe ac moenibus salvīs salūtem spērāre.this the senators themselves must undertake, since there were too few magistrates, to put an end to the uproar and alarm in the city: they should keep the matrons out of public places and compel each to stay within her own threshold, restrain the lamentations of households, establish silence throughout the city, see that bearers of all news were brought to the praetors (each person should wait at home for word of his own fortune), and also post guards at the gates to prevent anyone leaving the city, and make people hope for no safety except with the city and its walls preserved.
Liv. 22.55.8Ubi conticuerit: tumultus, tum in cūriam patrēs revocandōs cōnsulendumque dē urbis custōdiā esse.When the uproar had died down, then the senators should be recalled to the Curia and the defence of the city discussed.