126 Philip's letters to Larisa 



included many changes in Roman life, particularly in agriculture. In 

 large parts of Italy the peasant farmers were being superseded by 

 great landlords whose estates were worked by slave-labour, and the 

 conditions of farm life as shewn by the Attic playwrights were not so 

 strange to a Roman audience as to need recasting. And we can only 

 remark that the evidence drawn from the passages above referred to 

 is in full agreement with that taken from other sources. 



A very interesting sidelight on conditions in Greece, agriculture 

 included, towards the end of the third century EC, is thrown by the 

 correspondence 1 of Philip V of Macedon with the authorities of 

 Larisa. An inscription found at Larisa preserves this important record. 

 Two points must first be noted, to give the historical setting of the 

 whole affair. Thessaly was under Macedonian overlordship, and its 

 economic and military strength a matter of concern to Philip, who had 

 succeeded to the throne of Macedon in 220 BC. Moreover, the defeat 

 of Carthage in the first Punic war (264-41), the Roman occupation of 

 the greater part of Sicily and Sardinia, the Gallic wars and extension 

 of Roman dominion in Italy, the Illyrian war (230-29) and intervention 

 of Rome beyond the Adriatic, had attracted the attention of all the 

 Greek powers. The western Republic had for some years been care- 

 fully watched, and the admission of Corcyra Epidamnus and Apollonia 

 to the Roman alliance was especially disquieting to the Macedonian 

 king. So in 219 BC, just before the second Punic war, Philip sent a 

 letter to Larisa, pointing out that the number of their citizens had 

 been reduced by losses in recent wars and urging them to include in 

 their franchise the Thessalians and other Greeks resident in the city. 

 Among other advantages, the country 3 would be more fully cultivated. 

 The Larisaeans obeyed his injunctions. In 217 the war in Greece was 

 ended by his concluding peace with the Aetolians, his chief antagonists. 

 Hannibal was now in Italy, and the victory of Cannae in 216 raised 

 hopes in Philip of using the disasters of the Romans to drive them out 

 of Illyria. In 215 he concluded an alliance with Hannibal. The 

 Romans replied by naval activity in the Adriatic and later by stirring 

 up Greek powers, above all the Aetolians, to renew the war against 

 him. Meanwhile things had not gone on quietly at Larisa. The old 

 Thessalian noble families had given way to the king's pressure un- 

 willingly for the moment, but internal troubles soon broke out. The 

 nobles regained control and annulled the recent concessions. Philip 

 therefore addressed to them a second letter in 214, censuring their 

 conduct, and calling upon them to give effect to the enfranchisement- 

 policy previously agreed to. Thus they would not only conform to his 



1 Collitz I No. 345, Dittenberger 238-9. Mommsen's notes in Hermes xvn. 



2 Kal rijv -^(apav /xaXXov %epya.<rd'/io'e<r6ai. 



