This Is Attributed Principally
To The Circumstance, That The Fleet, On Examination, Was Discovered To Be
In Bad Condition, Neither
Equipped sufficiently in stores or provisions,
and the seamen who were to have navigated it were either dead or absent,
While those who did appear were ill paid and worse clothed; these facts
sufficiently demonstrate the little care which the Romans, even at this
period, bestowed on maritime affairs. The defeat of Perseus at Pidna, and
his subsequent capture by the Romans in the island of Samothrace, rendered
it unnecessary for them to supply the deficiences of their fleet. The
immense ship, which, as we have already mentioned, Philip, Perseus's
father, employed in his war against the Romans, was taken on this occasion;
and Paulus Emilius, the consul, sailed up the Tiber in it: it had 16 banks
of oars. Many other ships of large size were also captured; these were
brought to Rome, and drawn into the Campus Martius.
One of the allies of the unfortunate Perseus was the king of Illyria, who
was powerful at sea, and ravaged the coasts of Italy opposite to his
dominions. While the consul was sent against Perseus, the management of the
naval war against the Illyrians was committed to the praetor: as he was
well aware of the maritime force of his opponent, he acted with great
caution; his first success, in capturing some of their snips, induced him
to land all his forces in Illyria, where, after an obstinate battle, he
compelled the king to surrender at discretion. Macedonia and Illyria were
thus reduced to the state of Roman provinces; but the Romans regarded these
victories as of importance, more on account of the accession they made to
their territories, than on account of the advantages which they might
thence derive to their commerce or their naval power: so little, indeed,
did they regard them in the latter point of view, that they gave the 220
ships which were surrendered to them by the king of Illyria, to the
inhabitants of Cephalonia, of Apollonia, and Dyrrhachium, who at the time
were much celebrated for their trade and navigation. Although their
seacoasts had been repeatedly ravaged, we are informed by Polybius, that,
from the time of Philip, king of Macedonia, till long after the defeat of
Perseus, they entirely neglected the coasts of Illyria, from which, till
this country was subdued by them, their own coasts were generally invaded,
and by means of the ports and produce of which, after it became a Roman
province, they might greatly have augmented their navy and commerce.
The Carthaginians had been gradually recovering from the losses which they
had sustained during the second Punic war, and witnessed with satisfaction
their enemies involved in constant hostilities, in the hope that the issue
of these would prove fatal to them, or, at least, so far weaken them, as to
enable them to oppose Rome with more success than they had hitherto done.
While the war was carried on between the Romans and the Macedonians, they
made great, but secret, preparations to regain their former power; but the
Romans, who always kept a watchful and jealous eye on the operations of all
their rivals, were particularly nearsighted with regard to whatever was
doing by the Carthaginians.
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