The Senate was notoriously haughty and would often insist that their ally would treat them as a superior. Witness the behaviour of several Roman senators towards the Ptolemean kings. However, I doubt they had this attitude in 272 BC, because Rome was not a world power at this point. Also, they did form alliances with factions they had not defeated, like the Ptolemies. Many tribes were also, at one point or another, "friend of the Roman people".
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