xperience, and valor. She now naturally turned her eyes
toward the East, whose effeminate nations seemed to offer an easy
conquest.

The Greek kingdoms in Asia, founded by the successors of Alexander the
Great, bore within them the seeds of decay. The mighty kingdom of SYRIA,
which had once extended from the Indus to the AEgean Sea, had now lost
some of its fairest provinces. The greater part of Asia Minor no longer
owned the authority of the Syrian kings. PONTUS was governed by its own
rulers. A large body of Gauls had settled in the northern part of
Phrygia, which district was now called GALATIA after them. A new kingdom
was founded in Mysia, to which the name of PERGAMUS was given from its
chief city; and Attalus, who was king of Pergamus during the Second
Punic War, formed an alliance with Rome as a protection against Syria
and Macedonia. The king of Syria at this time was Antiochus III., who,
from his victory over the Parthians, had received the surname of the
Great.

EGYPT was governed by the Greek monarchs who bore the name of Ptolemy.
They had, even as early as the time of Pyrrhus, formed an alliance with
Rome (see p. 66)(Fourteenth paragraph of Chapter IX.--Transcriber). The
kingdom had since declined in power, and upon the death of Ptolemy IV.,
surnamed Philopator, in B.C. 205, the ministers of his infant son
Ptolemy Epiphanes, dreading the ambitious designs of the Macedonian and
Syrian kings, placed him under the protection of the Roman Senate, who
consented to become his guardians.

The Republic of RHODES was the chief maritime power in the AEgean Sea. It
extended its dominion over a portion of the opposite coasts of Caria and
Lycia, and over several of the neighboring islands. Like the king of
Pergamus, the Rhodians had formed an alliance with Rome as a protection
against Macedonia.

MACEDONIA was still a powerful kingdom, governed at this time by Philip
V., a monarch of considerable ability, who ascended the throne in B.C.
220, at the early age of seventeen. His dominion extended over the
greater part of Greece; but two new powers had sprung up since the death
of Alexander, which served as some counterpoise to the Macedonian
supremacy. Of these the most important was the ACHAEAN LEAGUE, which
embraced Corinth, Arcadia, and the greater part of the Peloponnesus.[36]
The AETOLIAN LEAGUE included at this time a considerable portion of
Central Greece. ATHENS and SPARTA still retained their independence, but