Philopoemen and Flamininus meet in the years when Rome entered Greece. Philopoemen was the last great general of the Achaean League. Flamininus was the Roman who beat Philip V and had the freedom of the Greeks announced at the Isthmian games.

Plutarch gives Philopoemen the harder soldier's life and the smaller stage. He gives Flamininus the power of Rome and a lighter hand than most Romans used. One died for a league that could no longer stand. The other went home famous for having set Greece loose.