the services of the greatest commander of the
age, he committed a most serious blunder. Had Hannibal led the forces of
Antiochus the task of the Romans would not have been so simple.

*Antiochus driven from Greece: 191 B. C.* In 191 a Roman army under the
consul Acilius Glabrio appeared in Greece and attacked and defeated the
forces of Antiochus at Thermopylae. The king fled to Asia. Contrary to his
hopes he had found but little support in Greece. Philip of Macedon and the
Achaean Confederacy adhered to the Romans, and the Aetolians were rendered
helpless by an invasion of their own country. Furthermore, the Rhodians
and Eumenes, the new King of Pergamon, joined their navies to the Roman
fleet.

*The Romans cross over to Asia Minor: 190 B. C.* As Antiochus would not
hearken to the terms of peace laid down by the Romans, the latter resolved
upon the invasion of Asia Minor. Two naval battles, won by the aid of
Rhodes and Pergamon, secured the control of the Aegean and in 190 B. C. a
Roman force crossed the Hellespont. For its commander the Senate had
wished to designate Scipio Africanus, the greatest of the Roman generals.
However, as he had recently been consul he was now ineligible for that
office. The obstacle of the law was accordingly circumvented by the
election of his brother Lucius to the consulate and his assignment to this
command, and by the appointment of Publius to accompany him as
extraordinary proconsul, with power equal to his own.

*Magnesia: 190 B. C.* One decisive victory over Antiochus at Magnesia in
the autumn of 190 B. C. brought him to terms. He agreed to surrender all
territory to the north of the Taurus mountains and west of Pamphylia, to
give up his war elephants, to surrender all but ten of his ships of war,
to pay an indemnity of 15,000 talents ($18,000,000) in twelve annual
instalments, and to abstain from attacking the allies of Rome. Still,
unlike Carthage, he was at liberty to defend himself if attacked. The
Romans then proceeded to establish order in Asia Minor. The territories of
their friends, Rhodes and Pergamon, were materially increased, while the
enemies of the latter, the Celts of Galatia were defeated and forced to
pay a heavy indemnity. Rome retained no territory in Asia, but left the
country divided among a number of small states whose mutual jealousies
rendered impossible the rise of a strong power which could venture to set
aside the Roman arrangements.

*The subjugation of