the power of those they dreaded, and permitted not any forėigner whom they had reason to fear, to obtain the smallest influence in them. I need to exemplify this only the provinces of Greece: by them the Achaians and Etolians were supported, the power of the Macedonians was weakened, and Antiochus was driven out: all the services of the Achaians and Etolians did not obtain them the smallest increase to their possessions; notwithstanding all the persuasions of Philip, they never would receive him as a friend but with a view of weakening him; and they too much dreaded Antiochus, to permit him to preserve the smallest degree of sovereignty in that province.
The Romans on this occasion did what ought to be done by every wise prince, whose duty it is not only to provide a remedy for present evils, but at the same time to anticipate such as are likely to happen: by foreseeing them at a distance, they are easily remedied; but if you wait till they have surrounded you, the time is past, and the malady is become incurable. It happens then as it does to physicians in the cure of a consumption, which in the commencement is easy to cure, and difficult to understand; but when it has neither been dis- covered in due time, nor treated upon a proper principle, it becomes easy to understand, and difficult to cure. The same thing happens in state affairs, by foreseeing them at a distance, which is
