y was at Cynocephalae,
or the Dogshead Rocks, where he so broke the strength of Macedon that at
the Isthmian games he proclaimed the deliverance of Greece, and in their
joy the people crowded round him with crowns and garlands, and shouted
so loud that birds in the air were said to have dropped down at the
sound.

Macedon had cities in Asia Minor, and the king of Syria's enemy,
Antiochus the Great, hoped to master them, and even to conquer Greece by
the help of Hannibal, who had found himself unable to live in Carthage
after his defeat, and was wandering about to give his services to any
one who was a foe of Rome.

As Rome took the part of Philip, as her subject and ally, there was soon
full scope for his efforts; but the Syrians were such wretched troops
that even Hannibal could do nothing with them, and the king himself
would not attend to his advice, but wasted his time in pleasure in the
isle of Euboea. So the consul Acilius first beat them at Thermopylae, and
then, on Lucius Cornelius Scipio being sent to conduct the war, his
great brother Africanus volunteered to go with him as his lieutenant,
and together they followed Antiochus into Asia Minor, and gained such
advantages that the Syrian was obliged to sue for peace. The Romans
replied by requiring of him to give up all Asia Minor as far as Mount
Tarsus, and in despair he risked a battle in Magnesia, and met with a
total defeat; 80,000 Greeks and Syrians being overthrown by 50,000
Romans. Neither Africanus nor Hannibal were present in this battle,
since the first was ill, and the second was besieged in a city in
Pamphylia; but while terms of peace were being made, the two are said
have met on friendly terms, and Scipio asked Hannibal whom he thought
the greatest of generals. "Alexander," was the answer. "Whom the next
greatest?" "Pyrrhus." "Whom do you rank as the third?" "Myself," said
Hannibal. "But if you had beaten me?" asked Scipio. "Then I would have
placed myself before Alexander."

[Illustration: HANNIBAL]

The Romans insisted that Hannibal should be dismissed by Antiochus,
though Scipio declared that this was ungenerous; but they dreaded his
never-ceasing enmity; and when he took refuge with the king of Bothnia,
they still required that he should be given up or driven a way. On this,
Hannibal, worn-out and disappointed, put an end to his own life by
poison, saying he would rid the Romans of their fear of an old man.

The provinces taken from Antioc