a Minor
In Asia Cappadocia adhered to the great-king; Prusias of Bithynia on
the other hand took, as always, the side of the stronger. King
Eumenes remained faithful to the old policy of his house, which was
now at length to yield to him its true fruit. He had not only
persistently refused |the offers of Antiochus, but had constantly
urged the Romans to a war, from which he expected the aggrandizement
of his kingdom. The Rhodians and Byzantines likewise joined their
old allies. Egypt too took the side of Rome and offered support in
supplies and men; which, however, the Romans did not accept.
Macedonia
In Europe the result mainly depended on the position which Philip of
Macedonia would take up. It would have been perhaps the right policy
for him, notwithstanding all the injuries or shortcomings of the past,
to unite with Antiochus. But Philip was ordinarily influenced not by
such considerations, but by his likings and dislikings; and his hatred
was naturally directed much more against the faithless ally, who had
left him to contend alone with the common enemy, had sought merely to
seize his own share in the spoil, and had become a burdensome
neighbour to him in Thrace, than against the conqueror, who had
treated him respectfully and honourably. Antiochus had, moreover,
given deep offence to the hot temper of Philip by the setting up of
absurd pretenders to the Macedonian crown, and by the ostentatious
burial of the Macedonian bones bleaching at Cynoscephalae. Philip
therefore placed his whole force with cordial zeal at the disposal
of the Romans.
The Lesser Greek States
The second power of Greece, the Achaean league, adhered no less
decidedly than the first to the alliance with Rome. Of the smaller
powers, the Thessalians and the Athenians held by Rome; among the
latter an Achaean garrison introduced by Flamininus into the citadel
brought the patriotic party, which was pretty strong, to reason. The
Epirots exerted themselves to keep on good terms, if possible, with
both parties. Thus, in addition to the Aetolians and the Magnetes who
were joined by a portion of the neighbouring Perrhaebians, Antiochus
was supported only by Amynander, the weak king of the Athamanes, who
allowed himself to be dazzled by foolish designs on the Macedonian
crown; by the Boeotians, among whom the party opposed to Rome was
still at the helm; and in the Peloponnesus by the Eleans and
Messenians, who were in the habit of ta
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