No Roman general understood the art of handling large bodies of
troops with effect. And the government seems to have been quite
unaware that this deficiency was a serious danger in the face of
the great general and the highly-trained army now on the march
from Spain.

118. But it was not only the war with the Gauls that had
kept Rome from asserting herself in the West. In 219 the Illyrian
war broke out again. It is true that the pirates were promptly put
down and order restored. But Demetrius of Pharos, the adven-
turer who had caused the trouble, escaped to Macedon, where he
was received by king Philip, who had lately succeeded to the
throne. At this time the Macedonian kingdom was more pre-
dominant in Greece than it had been for many years; and the
young king was especially desirous to expel the Romans from
their foothold on the eastern side of the Adriatic. Their presence
was a check to his ambition. So he was watching for an opportu-
nity, and Demetrius remained at the Macedonian court, intriguing
against Rome. On the other hand the Aetolians, whom Philip
had defeated in war, were longing to be revenged on him. Thus
there were the materials for a fresh conflict in the Greek peninsula.
But in the middle of the year 218 there was no obvious reason for
alarm in Italy. Nobody imagined that the approach of Hannibal
could mean actual fighting south of the Alps before the end of
the year. Even were this possible, the Roman government, with
its vast numbers of brave men at disposal, seemed able to crush
an invader at once. We shall see that the masters of Italy had
still much to learn.

-115-