ABSTRACT
This chapter explains Rome relations first with Greece and then with Macedon till the outbreak of the Third Macedonian War. Before the Romans left Greece trouble was brewing in the Peloponnese. Though Philopoemen's dream of the whole Peloponnese united under the Achaean League was fulfilled, it was soon shattered by the revolt of Sparta and by Philopoemen's own lack of statecraft. When Sparta complained at Rome the Senate ordered the Achaeans to restore full independence to Sparta, and to Corinth and Argos who did not desire it. The Rhodians had received Lycia and Caria for helping Rome against Antiochus, but unfortunately the Senate had not specified the status of the Lycians. In 158 the Senate reopened the royal mines and allowed the Republics the right of coinage. Rome was later hoisted on her own petard when the pirates whom Rhodes had long kept in check became the scourge of the Eastern Mediterranean.
