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The Punic Wars

Rome in 146 BC

The first half of the second century also saw the wars with Macedonia, by which parts of Greece also became a Roman province. Rome did not really want to conquer Greece, for Romans generally admired Greek culture, but once involved they could find no remedy for eternal Greek disorder than conquest.

The Fourth Macedonian War came to a conclusion in 146, the same year as the Third Punic War. Rome by now was more than capable of carrying on wars on multiple fronts, at least if they were not too large. She was a true imperial power.

By 146, Rome had been at war for nearly a hundred years, almost without respite. The effort had taken its toll. The city now ruled an empire that stretched from one end of the Mediterranean to the other, but it ruled that empire with a government that had been designed to rule a city-state.

The strains would prove too great for the Republic. It took another hundred years for the Republic to fall apart, and that is the subject of the next narrative.