From this time till the reign of Vespasian, when the island became a Roman province, it was sometimes oppressed, and sometimes favoured by the Romans; according, as Tacitus remarks, as they obliged them with their assistance in foreign wars, or provoked them with their seditions at home.

In order to complete the maritime history of Rhodes, we have rather advanced beyond the period to which we had brought down our notices of the Roman navigation and commerce:  these therefore we shall now resume at the war between Perseus king of Macedonia and the Romans.  Perseus harassed the coasts of Italy, plundered and sunk all their ships, while they found it difficult to oppose him by sea, or protect their coasts, for want of a fleet.  This induced them to prepare for service fifty vessels; but though their allies augmented this number, the Romans do not seem to have performed any thing of consequence by sea.  This is attributed principally to the circumstance, that the fleet, on examination, was discovered to be in bad condition, neither equipped sufficiently in stores or provisions, and the seamen who were to have navigated it were either dead or absent, while those who did appear were ill paid and worse clothed; these facts sufficiently demonstrate the little care which the Romans, even at this period, bestowed on maritime affairs.  The defeat of Perseus at Pidna, and his subsequent capture by the Romans in the island of Samothrace, rendered it unnecessary for them to supply the deficiences of their fleet.  The immense ship, which, as we have already mentioned, Philip, Perseus’s father, employed in his war against the Romans, was taken on this occasion; and Paulus Emilius, the consul, sailed up the Tiber in it:  it had 16 banks of oars.  Many other ships of large size were also captured; these were brought to Rome, and drawn into the Campus Martius.

One of the allies of the unfortunate Perseus was the king of Illyria, who was powerful at sea, and ravaged the coasts of Italy opposite to his dominions.  While the consul was sent against Perseus, the management of the naval war against the Illyrians was committed to the praetor:  as he was well aware of the maritime force of his opponent, he acted with great caution; his first success, in capturing some of their snips, induced him to land all his forces in Illyria, where, after an obstinate battle, he compelled the king to surrender at discretion.  Macedonia and Illyria were thus reduced to the state of Roman provinces; but the Romans regarded these victories as of importance, more on account of the accession they made to their territories, than on account of the advantages which they might thence derive to their commerce or their naval power:  so little, indeed, did they regard them in the latter point of view, that they gave the 220 ships which were surrendered to them by the king of Illyria, to the inhabitants of Cephalonia, of Apollonia, and Dyrrhachium, who at the time were much celebrated