The Romans sometimes took it upon themselves to request the military cooperation of new allies : in a position of weakness while negotiating, they had to make concessions and bring immediate benefits to their future partners in order to win the case. These agreements were negotiated in the field of military operations, with or without the authorization of the Senate, by magistrates or legates who took significant risks to reach their goals. Some of these agreements were ratified in Rome by the Senate and the people, and they sometimes created strong and lasting bonds between the two partners. It also happened that Rome failed in its attempts, or that the new allies turned out to be unreliable in the long run, but the Romans were partly responsible for these failures.