ABSTRACT
The result of the First Punic War was that the Rome had gained control of territory lying outside Italy. It was not, however, the territorial expansion of Illyria that drew Rome's first glance across the Adriatic. During the next ten years Rome was too busy with the Gallic invasion and, as will be seen, with trying to check the growing power of Carthage in Spain, to think much of Greece where momentous events were taking place. The friendly relations of Rome and Carthage during the war with the mercenaries were rudely shattered by Rome's seizure of Sardinia, and at Carthage the party which stood for hostility towards Rome again climbed into the saddle. The tradition that Hamilcar conquered Spain against the wishes of his government is absurd. Hannibal had cleverly precipitated a crisis in which the Romans were technically at fault, but from which they could not retreat without loss of prestige.
