As a last resort, war was declared, and the sea was cleared of the pirates in 229.
"The results of this Illyrican war did not end here, for it was the means of establishing, for the first time, direct political relations between Rome and the states of Greece, to many of which the suppression of piracy was of as much importance as to Rome herself.

Alliances were concluded with CORCYRA, EPIDAMNUS, and APOLLONIA; and embassies explaining the reasons which had brought Roman troops into Greece were sent to the Aetolians and Achaeans, to Athens and Corinth.

The admission of the Romans to the Isthmian Games in 228 formally acknowledged them as the allies of the Greek states." The Romans now began to look with hungry eyes upon GALLIA CISALPINA.

The appetite for conquest was well whetted.

There had been peace with the Gauls since the battle of Lake Vadimonis in 283.