2 The dates of the events referred to are, respectively, 267 B.C. and 204 B.C., by Livy's reckoning, or, according to the usual chronology (which is retained in the marginal dates), 264 B.C. and 201 B.C.
3 Books I-XV contained the narrative of the earlier period; Books XVI-XXX covered the First and Second Punic Wars.
4 B.C. 201
5 Philip V, king of the Macedonians, was not to be compared with the Carthaginian Hannibal.
6 Livy thinks especially of Philip II, founder of Macedonian power, and of Alexander the Great, who had conquered an empire greater than that of Carthage.
7 Philip V had come to the Macedonian throne in 217 B.C. at the age of 17, and had continued the aggressive policy of his regent, Antigonus. As an ally of the Achaean League, the Macedonians had fought a successful war against the Aetolian League (see Introductory Note), and in 216 B.C. concluded an alliance with Hannibal by a treaty of which Polybius (VII. xix) preserves some clauses. Meanwhile Philip was pursuing an ambitious policy towards Athens and other Greek states. By 214 B.C., Rome seems to have recognized that something like a “state of war” existed (XXIV. xl. 1), but in this passage Livy dates the actual hostilities from 211 B.C., when Rome made a treaty with Philip's old enemies, the Aetolians (XXVI. xxiv. 10). Philip's treaty of peace with the Aetolians is dated 205 B.C. by Livy (XXIX. xii. 1), but we may perhaps explain his “three years” on the assumption that it was not ratified until the next year, Livy's chronology is often confused, as a result of unskilful handling of annalistic sources. The so-called Second Macedonian War, the account of which begins here, was practically ended by the battle of Cynoscephalae in 197 B.C. (XXXIII. vi-x; Polyb. XVIII. xx-xxvii), but lasted diplomatically until 196 B.C. (XXXIII. xxxii). Thereafter Philip pursued a policy of alternating friendship and hostility towards Rome until his death in 179 B.C.
8 See the preceding note for the peace of 205 B.C., which might seem due to the treachery of the Aetolians rather than of Philip. Rome was so occupied by the war against Hannibal that the Aetolians had to bear all the burden of keeping up the war against Philip. The failure of the Romans to aid them is frequently mentioned in the diplomatic conferences of the next years.
9 B.C. 201
10 Livy (XXX. xxvi. 3) reports the rumour that troops had been sent to Hannibal, and in XXX. xxxiii. 5 lists Macedonians among his allies. See also XXX. xlii. 4 and XLV. xxii. 6. Polybius does not mention them.