and cooeperation between Rome and the foes of Macedon,
the Aetolian and Achaean Confederacies, which rejoiced in the accession of
such a powerful friend. The way was thus paved for the participation of
Rome, as a partizan of the anti-Macedonian faction, in the struggles which
had so long divided the Greek world.

*The second Illyrian war: 220-219 B. C.* The revival of Macedonian
influence led indirectly to Rome's second Illyrian war. The alliance of
Antigonus Doson with the Achaean Confederacy and his conquest of Sparta
(222 B. C.) united almost the whole of Greece under Macedonian suzerainty.
Thereupon Demetrius of Pharos, a despot whose rule Rome had established in
Corcyra, went over to Macedonia, attacked the cities allied with Rome, and
sent a piratical squadron into Greek waters (220 B. C.). Rome, now
threatened with a second Carthaginian War, acted with energy. Macedonia,
under Philip V, the successor of Antigonus Doson, was involved in a war
with the Aetolians and their allies. Deprived of support from this quarter
Demetrius was speedily driven to take refuge in flight. His subjects
surrendered and Rome took possession of his chief fortresses, Pharos and
Dimillos.

*War with the Gauls in North Italy: 225-22 B. C.* In the interval between
these Illyrian Wars Rome became involved in a serious conflict with the
Gallic tribes settled in the Po valley. For about half a century this
people had lived at peace with Rome, ceasing their raids into the
peninsula and becoming a prosperous agricultural and pastoral people. It
is claimed that they became alarmed at the Roman assignment of the public
land on their southern borders, called the Ager Gallicus, to individual
colonists in 233 B. C., and that this caused them to take up arms.
However, this territory had been Roman since 283 B. C. and its settlement
could hardly have been interpreted as an hostile act. More probable is it
that the cause of the new Gallic invasion was the coming of fresh swarms
from across the Alps, which some of the Cisalpine Gauls, who had forgotten
the defeats of the previous generation, perhaps invited, and certainly
joined, for the sake of plunder. In 238 such a band of Transalpines
crossed the Roman frontier and penetrated as far as Ariminum, but serious
dissensions broke out within their own ranks and they had to withdraw.
There was no further inroad attempted until 225 B. C.

*The Gallic invasion of 225 B. C.* In that year a formidable horde,