We're sending a scout to Rome. But no one sends a coward as a scout — someone who hears a noise or sees a shadow and comes running back in panic, screaming that enemies are everywhere. So if you come back and tell us: 'Things are awful in Rome! Death is terrifying! Exile is terrifying! Slander is terrifying! Poverty is terrifying! Run for your lives, friends — the enemy is coming!' — we'll say: 'Get lost. Go spread your fear somewhere else. Our only mistake was sending someone like you as a scout.'
We are now sending a scout to Rome; but no man sends a cowardly scout, who, if he only hears a noise and sees a shadow anywhere, comes running back in terror and reports that the enemy is close at hand. So now if you should come and tell us: "Fearful is the state of affairs at Rome; terrible is death; terrible is exile; terrible is calumny; terrible is poverty; fly, my friends, the enemy is near," we shall answer: "Begone, prophesy for yourself; we have committed only one fault, that we sent such a scout."