order to establish his naval supremacy in the AEgean
Sea, he attacked the Rhodians and Attalus, king of Pergamus, both of
whom were allies of Rome. He had also previously made a treaty with
Antiochus, king of Syria, for the dismemberment of the Egyptian
monarchy, which was placed under the guardianship of the Roman people.

It was impossible for the Senate to pass over these acts of hostility,
and accordingly, in the year after the conclusion of the Second Punic
War, the Consul P. Sulpicius Galba proposed to the Comitia of the
Centuries that war should be declared against Philip. But the people
longed for repose, and rejected the proposition by the almost unanimous
vote of every century. It was only by the most earnest remonstrance, and
by representing to them that, unless they attacked Philip in Greece, he
would invade Italy, like Hannibal, that they were induced to reverse
their decision and declare war (B.C. 200).

Philip was at this time engaged in the siege of Athens, which had joined
Attalus and the Rhodians. The Consul Galba crossed over to Epirus, and
Athens was relieved by a Roman fleet; but before he withdrew, Philip,
prompted by anger and revenge, displayed his barbarism by destroying the
gardens and buildings in the suburbs, including the Lyecum and the
tombs of the Attic heroes; and in a second incursion which he made with
large re-enforcements he committed still greater excesses. For some
time, however, the war lingered on without any decided success on
either side. The Consul Villius, who succeeded Galba in B.C. 199,
effected nothing of importance, and it was not till the appointment of
the Consul T. Quinctius Flamininus to the command that the war was
earned on with energy and vigor (B.C. 198). He forced his way through
the passes of Antigonea, which were occupied by the enemy, invaded
Thessaly, and took up his winter quarters in Phocis and Locris. In the
following year (B.C. 197) the struggle was brought to a termination by
the battle of Cynoscephalae (Dogs' Heads), a range of hills near
Scotussa, in Thessaly. The Roman legions gained an easy victory over the
once formidable Macedonian phalanx: 8000 Macedonians were killed and
5000 taken prisoners, while Flamininus lost only 700 men. Philip was
obliged to sue for peace, and in the following year (B.C. 196) a treaty
was ratified by which the Macedonians were compelled to renounce their
supremacy, to withdraw their garrisons from the Grecian towns, to
s