From the middle of the 3rd century BC, the Roman Republic embarked on the path of gaining dominance in the Mediterranean. The struggle with Carthage and the Hellenistic monarchies required Rome to employ a much more sophisticated form of diplomacy, one instrument of which was the authorised senatorial commission of ten legates (decem legati). These commissions were usually called upon to formulate and implement a postwar settlement at the end of a major international conflict involving the Roman state. Considering the composition of these commissions, their powers and activities, one can conclude that they played a much more important role than ordinary Roman embassies. These commissions often were the subject of internal political struggles in Rome becoming one of the key instruments for implementing senatorial foreign policy in the Eastern Mediterranean during this period.