And in the end -in Thrasycrates speech to the Aetolians in207-displayed it self publicly as overtly hostile to Rome.The Rhodains then worked successfully to bring about aseparate Macedonian – Aetolian peace in 206 –apeace that Rome vehemently opposed, and one that injured Rome strategically. Yet suddenly , in summer 201 , we find the Rhodians sending ambassadors to rome and pleading for large - scale roman intervention in the greek Mediterranean . the rhodians made this plea for this roman intervention although , as thrasycrates , speech makes clear , they were well aware of the military power of rome , and that power might in itself upset the balance of power that had previously existed in the greek east-the rhodians had sought through many vicissitudes to preserve , for it allowed significant freedom of action to the second-tier polities . government in 201 was that – whatever threat roman power ultimately constituted to greek states – the tripolar system in the east which the rhodians had always sought to preserve faced a for more immediate threat from Philip and Antiochus . indeed , the old balance of power had already been destroyed . it fallen apart , first , because of the increasing collapse of Ptolemaic Egypt , and second , because the collapse of Egypt had led to the alliance between Philip and Antiochus to divide up the weakened Ptolemaic empire and thus to increase their own power vastly by the summer of 201 both Philip and Antiochus were engaged in massive military offensives