 Philip V, therefore, needed a powerful ally to halt Rome's expansion towards the Balkans and mitigate the danger on Macedon's western border.Hannibal seemed the perfect candidate.Livy, the Roman historian of the 1st century, narrates in "Ab Urbe condita" ("Since the founding of Rome"), "Liber XXIII, 33-39", how Philip, having observed Hannibal's victories, sent a delegation in the summer of 215 BC to meet him on the Italic peninsula to secure an alliance.