The brave and able Marcus Lucullus (682, 683) was the first who again advanced eastward, defeated the Bessi in their mountains, took their capital Uscudama (Adrianople), and compelled them to submit to the Roman supremacy.

Sadalas king of the Odrysians, and the Greek towns on the east coast to the north and south of the Balkan chain--Istropolis, Tomi, Callatis, Odessus (near Varna), Mesembria, and others--became dependent on the Romans.

Thrace, of which the Romans had hitherto held little more than the Attalic possessions on the Chersonese, now became a portion--though far from obedient--of the province of Macedonia.
Piracy But the predatory raids of the Thracians and Dardani, confined as they were to a small part of the empire, were far less injurious to the state and to individuals than the evil of piracy, which was continually spreading farther and acquiring more solid organization.

The commerce of the whole Mediterranean was in its power.

Italy could neither export its products nor import grain from the provinces; in the former the people were starving, in the latter the cultivation of the corn-fields ceased for want of a vent for the produce.