Livy continues his History of Rome in Book 32. After Hannibal was barely beaten, the Senate turned east against Philip V of Macedon, a king in northern Greece who had once sided with Carthage.

Titus Quinctius Flamininus, young for a consul — one of two officials elected to run Rome for a year — takes the Greek war as his stage. Around the Aous river and the gates of Thessaly the fighting is passes, forts, and allies peeling from the king. Achaeans, Aetolians, and other Greek leagues shift as success shifts. Embassies argue liberty, garrisons, and blame. Rome claims it will break Macedonian hold on Greek cities. Supplying armies over the sea is now a Roman art. Philip bargains while he fights, buying time from a foe that learned in Spain and Africa not to rush a false peace. The ground is clearing for a battle on the dog-head hills of Thessaly.