d the conquest of Lower Syria in 198, and then,
profiting by the difficulties in which Philip of Macedon was involved, he
turned his attention towards Asia Minor and Thrace with the hope of
recovering the possessions once held by his ancestor, Seleucus I, in these
quarters. The Romans were at the time too much occupied to oppose him,
and, outwardly, he professed to be the friend of Rome and to be limiting
his activities to the reestablishing of his empire to its former extent.
Eventually, in 195 B. C., he crossed over into Europe and proceeded to
establish himself in Thrace. Negotiations with the Roman Senate seemed
likely to lead to an agreement that the king should limit his expansion to
Asia and recognize a sort of Roman suzerainty in Europe, when the action
of the Aetolians precipitated a conflict.

*The Aetolians and Rome.* The Aetolians, who had been Rome's allies in the
war just concluded and who greatly exaggerated the importance of their
services, were disgruntled because the kingdom of Macedonia had not been
entirely dismembered and they had been restrained from enlarging the
territory of the Confederacy at the expense of their neighbors. In short,
they wished to take the place formerly held by Macedonia among the Greek
states. Accustomed to regard war as a legitimate source of revenue, they
did not easily reconcile themselves to Rome's preservation of peace in
Hellas. Ever since the battle of Cynoscephalae they had striven to
undermine Roman influence among the Greeks, and now they sought to draw
Antiochus into conflict with Rome.

*Antiochus invades Greece: 192 B. C.* In 192 B. C. they elected Antiochus
as commander-in-chief of the forces of their confederacy and seized the
fortress of Chalcis. This they offered to the king, to whom they also made
an unauthorized promise of aid from Macedonia. Thereupon, trusting in the
support promised by the Aetolians, Antiochus sailed to Greece with a small
force of 10,000 men. It so happened that Hannibal, who in 196 B. C. had
been forced to flee his native city owing to the machinations of his
enemies and the Romans, was then at the court of Antiochus, where he had
taken refuge. He advised his protector to invade the Italian peninsula,
but Antiochus rejected the advice, probably with wisdom, for such a course
would have required him to win the control of the sea, which was a task
beyond his resources. But when, throughout his whole campaign, he
neglected to make use of