1. _The Roman people had now carried their victorious arms over all parts of the world, and far and wide had penetrated countries at a vast distance, and separated by several seas. Nevertheless, in such a tide of success flowing according to their wishes, having obtained a high character for moderation, they were more powerful by their influence than by their military sway; and they boasted frequently that they carried more measures with foreign nations by policy, than by violence and terror. Never insulting conquered nations and kings, generous to their allies, seeking for themselves the honour of victory only, to kings they had preserved their rank, to nations their laws, rights, and liberty, whether in a treaty formed with an equal or with an inferior; and although they had so encompassed, by their arms, both coasts of the Mediterranean, from Cadiz even as far as Syria, and had gained respect for the Roman name through immense tracts of territory, yet the only subjects they had, were the nations of Sicily and the islands on the coast of Italy, and the tribes of the greater part of Spain, which had not yet learned to bear their yoke with resignation. It was the ill-timed treachery of their enemies and rivals, rather than their own ambition, that afforded them cause and material for the increase of their sway. As a special instance: the cruelty of Perseus, who obtained the kingdom of Macedon by treachery and crime, displayed towards his subjects, detested by all, his frantic avarice in the midst of boundless wealth, his inconsiderate levity in the adoption and prosecution of his plans, both destroyed him, and whatever could remain independent, as long as he existed, the principal restraint on the Roman power; for his fall recoiled upon others, and brought with it not only the downfall of his neighbours, but also that of those who were far removed from him. The fall of Carthage and of the Achæans followed the ruin of the Macedonians: and when the state of all was convulsed by their disasters, the rest of the empires, already tottering for some time, were overthrown shortly after, and all fell beneath the Roman sway. It was my intention to lay here before the reader at a glance these events, so intimately connected in interest, though occurring at different times and places, whilst he contemplated the war impending over the Romans from Perseus, from which especially the Roman power drew the sources of its growth. Perseus was then concocting that war in secret; the Ligurians and Gauls provoked rather than employed the Roman arms._