The conquest of all the islands on the coast of Greece, from Epirus to Cape Malea, by the Romans, was the result of a naval war, in which they engaged with the Etolians, a people who, at this time, were so powerful at sea, and so much addicted to piracy, as to have drawn upon themselves the jealousy and the vengeance of the Romans. This extension of their dominions was followed by a successful war with the Istrians, which made them masters of all the western parts of the Mediterranean Sea; and by an equally successful war with Nabis, the tyrant of Sparta, who was compelled to deliver up his fleet to them, as well as all the sea-ports of consequence on the coast of Sparta. The Rhodians hitherto had been generally in alliance with the Romans; but differences arose between them during the war between the latter and Perseus, king of Macedon. The island of Rhodes was remarkably well situated for maritime commerce; and its inhabitants did not fail to reap all the advantages in this respect which nature had so kindly bestowed on them. It appears from Homer, that in his time there were three cities in the island; but during the Peloponnesian war, the greater part of the inhabitants, having formed the resolution to settle in one place, built the city of Rhodes, after the designs of the same Athenian architect, who built the Piræus. This city was situated on the east coast of the island, at the foot of a hill, in the form of an amphitheatre: it possessed a very convenient and safe harbour, at the entrance of which there were two rocks; and on these, which were fifty feet asunder, the famous Colossus was placed. The arsenals of Rhodes were filled with every thing requisite for the defence of the city, or the equipment of a large fleet: its walls, which were extremely high, were defended by towers: its houses were built of stone: in short, the whole city presented a striking picture of wealth, magnificence, and beauty, for which it was not less indebted to art and commerce than to nature. Before the era of the Olympiads, the Rhodians applied themselves to maritime affairs: for many years they seem to have been masters of the Mediterranean Sea; and their code of maritime laws became the standard with all the maritime nations of antiquity, by which all controversies regarding maritime affairs were regulated. There is great doubt among the learned, whether what still exist as the fragments of these laws are genuine: we know, however, that the Romans had a law which they called Lex Rhodia; according to some, this contained the regulations of the Rhodians concerning naval affairs; according to others, however, only one clause of the law, _de jactu_, about throwing goods overboard in a storm, was borrowed from the Rhodians.