The Romans wanted to ensure that Carthage could never rise up again to threaten Rome. And so after the Third Punic War, the Romans are now the dominant empire in the Mediterranean. Not only did they control that, what they controlled going into the Third Punic War, but now they controlled, they controlled, they controlled, they controlled Carthage's African colonies. The same year, 146 BCE, they were also able, the Romans were also able to take control of Greece. And so as we exit out of the Third Punic War, you now have a Rome that is extremely powerful. And this Roman Republic is starting to resemble this empire. It's not officially an empire yet.