ROME was now in a position to add new nations to her list of subjects.
The kingdoms of the East which formerly composed a part of the vast
empire of Alexander the Great, and which finally went to swell the
limits of Roman authority, were Egypt, Syria, Macedonia, and Greece
proper.
EGYPT was governed by the Ptolemies, and included at this time the
valley of the Nile, Palestine, Phoenicia, the island of Cyprus, and a
number of towns in Thrace.
SYRIA, extending from the Mediterranean to the Indus, was composed of
various nations which enjoyed a semi-independence. Under incompetent
rulers, she saw portion after portion of her dominions fall from her.
Thus arose Pergamus, Pontus, Cappadocia, and Phrygia.
MACEDONIA was ruled by Philip V., and included also a large portion of
Northern Greece.
GREECE proper was divided between the ACHAEAN and AETOLIAN LEAGUES, the
former including the most of the Peloponnesus, the latter the greater
part of Central Greece.
Ever since the repulse of Pyrrhus, Rome had been slowly drifting into
closer contact with the East. She formed an alliance with Egypt in 273.
From this country had come in part her supply of corn during the Second
Punic War. In 205, Ptolemy V. became king, and, through fear of the
Macedonian and Syrian kings, sought the protection of Rome.
The punishment of the Illyrican pirates in 228 brought Rome into closer
relations with Greece. These connections had been sufficient to open the
Eastern ports to her trade, but her struggle with Carthage had left her
no time or strength to interfere actively in Eastern politics, until she
was forced to take action by the alliance of Philip V. of Macedonia and
Hannibal, and by the former's threatened invasion of Italy in 214. A
small force was sent into Greece, which was soon largely increased by
the dissatisfied subjects of Philip.
The only object of Rome in the First Macedonian War (214-205) was
to prevent Philip from lending aid to Hannibal; and in this she was
partially successful. None of the Macedonian troops entered Italy, but
four thousand of them were at Zama.
The military operations of this war were of slight importance. Marcus
Valerius Laevinus was sent to the Adriatic, and pushed the king so hard
that he was obliged to burn the fleet in which he intended to sail for
Italy. Philip was at this time at war with Aetolia. Laevinus assisted
the Aetolians, and the king was too fully occupied at home to think of
operations farther away. But in 205, the Romans, wishing to concentrate
their energies upon the invasion of Africa, made peace.
Some of Philip's soldiers had been captured at Zama. He demanded their
return. The answer was, that, if he wished war again, he could have it.
There were several other reasons which led to the SECOND MACEDONIAN
WAR (200-197). Philip had agreed with ANTIOCHUS III., king of Syria, to
attempt with him the division of Egypt, since it seemed probable that
the young king, Epiphanes (Ptolemy V.), who was only four years old,
would not be able to make an effectual resistance. The ministers of
Egypt sought the protection of Rome. On their journey, the Roman envoys
sent to assume the office of protectorship remonstrated with Philip.
In Asia Minor Philip had conducted himself with such barbarity that the
people rose against him; and from a similar cause Greece was driven to
seek alliances which would protect her against him.
Rome was unwilling to undertake a new war, but the people were induced
to vote for one, on the representation that the only means of preventing
an invasion of Italy was to carry the war abroad.
This year (200) the Consul, Publius Sulpicius Galba, was sent with a
considerable force across the Adriatic. His campaign, and that of the
Consul Villius during the next year, were productive of no decisive
results, but in 198 the Consul TITUS QUINCTIUS FLAMININUS, a man of
different calibre, conducted the war with vigor. He defeated Philip on
the Aous, drove him back to the pass of Tempe, and the next year utterly
defeated him at CYNOSCEPHALAE.
The king had drawn up his forces in two divisions. With the first he
broke through the line of the legions, which, however, closed in around
him with but little loss. The other division was attacked by the Romans,
while it was forming, and thoroughly discomfited. The victory of the
Romans was decisive.
About the same time the Achaeans captured CORINTH from Philip, and the
Rhodians defeated his troops in Caria.
Further resistance was impossible. Philip was left in possession of
Macedonia alone; he was deprived of all his dependencies in Greece,
Thrace, and Asia Minor, and was forbidden, as Carthage had been, to wage
war without Rome's consent.
The next year (196), at the Isthmian Games, the "freedom of Greece" was
proclaimed to the enthusiastic crowds, and two years later
Flamininus withdrew his troops from the so called "three fetters of
Greece,"--Chalcis, Demetrias, and Corinth,--and, urging the Greeks to
show themselves worthy of the gift of the Roman people, he returned home
to enjoy a well earned triumph.
The chief result of the second Macedonian war was, therefore, the firm
establishment of a ROMAN PROTECTORATE OVER GREECE AND EGYPT. The wedge
had been entered and the interference of Rome in Eastern affairs was
assured.