They went to Rome, a very long journey: For a very long journey, Good News Bible has “a long and difficult journey,” which expresses the Greek better.

And they entered the senate chamber and spoke as follows: For senate chamber, see the comments on verse 15. The two Jewish envoys met the 320 Roman senators in their assembly room. The impression should not be left that the envoys simply entered the senate and started talking. There would have been formalities. One approach to this may be to render the verse as follows:

• After a long, difficult journey to Rome, they addressed [or, spoke to] the senators in their meeting hall. Here is what they said.

Quoted with permission from Bullard, Roger A. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on 1-2 Maccabees. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2011. For this and other handbooks for translators see here.