+Context.+ Philip V, King of Macedon, had made a treaty with Hannibal in 215 B.C., and provoked the first Macedonian War (214-205 B.C.) by an attack on Apollonia in Illyria, and the capture of the port of Oricum in Epirus. The Romans now resolved to make Philip suffer for the trouble he had caused them by interfering in the war with Hannibal. A _casus belli_ was soon found in the Athenian Embassy to Rome (201 B.C.) asking for help against Philip.
[Linenotes: 3-4. +unus ... militum.+ Ihne says ‘He seized the favourable opportunity to shape the battle which had begun without plan into a brilliant victory for Rome.’ 5. +signorum+ (= _manipulorum_) = _companies_, i.e. with some 3500 men. 13. +loco premebantur+ = _they_ (i.e. _the phalanx_) _began to feel the disadvantage of position_. --Rawlins. 16. +in medio caesi+ = _cut down from both sides_. --R.]
+Cynoscephalae+ (_Dog’s Heads_), a low chain of hills between Pherae and Scotussa in Thessaly.
+Results of the Battle.+ ‘The Romans lost only 700 men. That was the price paid for a victory which laid the Monarchy of Alexander the Great in the dust.’ --Ihne.
+Terms of Peace+, 196 B.C. Macedonia to remain an independent state, but, like Carthage, to lose all her foreign possessions, and to be sunk to the level of a vassal state.
_Flamininus proclaims the Freedom of Greece, 196 B.C._
Isthmiorum statum ludicrum aderat, semper quidem et alias frequens cum propter spectaculi studium insitum genti, quo certamina omnis generis artium viriumque et pernicitatis visuntur, tum quia propter opportunitatem loci, per duo diversa maria { 5} omnium rerum usus ministrantis humano generi, concilium Asiae Graeciaeque is mercatus erat; tum vero non ad solitos modo usus undique convenerant, sed exspectatione erecti, qui deinde status futurus Graeciae, quae sua fortuna esset. Ad spectaculum { 10} consederant, et praeco cum tubicine, ut mos est, in mediam aream, unde sollemni carmine ludicrum indici solet, processit et, tuba silentio facto, ita pronuntiat: ‘Senatus Romanus et T. Quinctius imperator, Philippo rege Macedonibusque devictis, { 15} liberos, immunes, suis legibus esse iubet Corinthios, Phocenses, Locrensesque omnes et insulam Euboeam et Magnetas, Thessalos, Perrhaebos, Achaeos Phthiotas.’ ... Esse aliquam in terris gentem, quae sua impensa, suo labore ac periculo bella gerat pro { 20} libertate aliorum. Una voce praeconis liberatas omnes Graeciae atque Asiae urbes; hoc spe concipere audacis animi fuisse, ad effectum adducere et virtutis et fortunae ingentis.
